NAGPRA

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) provides a process for descendants and tribes to request the return of ancestral remains and defined cultural items from museums and federal agencies. Additional details can be found at the National NAGPRA Program website.

The University and the Museum of Anthropology are committed to fostering ethical anthropological practices, striving to follow NAGPRA's mandate in our own collections and to provide resources and support to advance compliance with that mandate at other institutions across the nation.

NAGPRA at DUMA

The Museum of Anthropology works closely with Tribal Nations to provide intellectual and physical access to the collection with the goal of one day repatriating all Native American ancestral remains and NAGPRA cultural items. In recent years, we have focused on developing consensus on the disposition of ancestral remains (and associated funerary objects) that could not be culturally affiliated, as well as working towards the repatriation of ancestral remains already published in Notices of Inventory Completion. Current work is focused on consulting with Tribal Nations to identify cultural items in the collection and facilitate repatriation.

Please contact the NAGPRA Coordinator for more information on NAGPRA at DU.

NAGPRA Contact

Anne Amati

NAGPRA Coordinator/Registrar

DU Campus

NAGPRA Community of Practice

Created in 2019 by DUMA staff with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the NAGPRA Community of Practice brings together people engaged in or interested in NAGPRA work at museums, Tribal Nations, Federal and state agencies, and beyond to support NAGPRA implementation. The group provides space to share experiences and resources and fosters collaboration across disciplines. The grant has ended but the community continues. 

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