The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was the first and only bill enacted by the United States Congress that specifically protected Native Americans' rights to the remains of their dead ancestors. Because of NAGPRA, thousands of ancient people and artifacts have been successfully returned and peacefully repatriated by the tribes to which they belonged during their lives.
Restoring Honor: NAGPRA Restoring Rights and
Responsibilities to Native Graves
Wrap-up
"Our museum already has completed requirements to enable repatriation of approximately 3,137 individual human remains and over 10,000 funerary objects. This represents approximately 10% of the total number of human remains and funerary objects that are available for repatriation nationally. Our wide-ranging repatriation efforts have given us extensive experience with many of the Act's successes and challenges."
- William L. Fash, Peabody Museum of Archeology & Ethnology
SevenPonds Blog
"Many tribes have received copies of inventories and have been asked to study them for possible affiliation between remains or artifacts with the tribes."
Bauman
Science Photo Library
In addition, NAGPRA has fostered greater understanding and connection between Native American tribes and the numerous scientific and museum institutions. Museums now understand their responsibility to respect and honor the rights and culture of Native American tribes. Native Americans have had the opportunity to have their stories shared across the world, as well as having the ability to inform communities on what precisely the culturally affiliated objects found in Native graves were used for.
NAGPRA has secured the place of Native Americans in the world, helping all to have greater understanding and respect. The field of archeology has become much more transparent about how it handles remains from archeological digs, and more documentation has been done than ever before of the incredible artifacts that NAGPRA has helped to become rightfully repatriated.
Cronkite News - Arizona PBS