THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND NAGPRA FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 1. What is NAGPRA? "The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is a Federal law passed in 1990. NAGPRA provides a process for museums and Federal agencies to return certain Native American cultural items—human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony—to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. NAGPRA includes provisions for unclaimed and culturally unidentifiable Native American cultural items, intentional and inadvertent discovery of Native American cultural items on Federal and tribal lands, and penalties for noncompliance and illegal trafficking. In addition, NAGPRA authorizes Federal grants to Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and museums to assist with the documentation and repatriation of Native American cultural items, and establishes the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee to monitor the NAGPRA process and facilitate the resolution of disputes that may arise concerning repatriation under NAGPRA" (from http://www.cr.nps.gov/nagpra/FAQ/INDEX.HTM#What_is_NAGPRA). 2. What steps has the Museum of Anthropology taken to comply with NAGPRA? Following the passage of NAGPRA, the Museum of Anthropology undertook an extensive inventory project to identify all Native American cultural items in its collections that fell under the NAGPRA provisions. NAGPRA requirements mandated that institutions produce a summary inventory by November 16, 1993, and complete a final inventory by November 16, 1995. The Museum complied with both of these requirements and in 2000 submitted an updated inventory to the National NAGPRA office administered by the US Department of Interior. Included in the Museum's NAGPRA inventory are archaeological collections from 465 archaeological sites, skeletal materials from 35 sites, and 354 ethnographic specimens.   An important component of NAGPRA is the notification of and consultation with potentially affiliated native groups. In 1993, the Museum sent notifications and requests to initiate consultations to 44 groups, informing them of specific items in its collections that may be affiliated with their group. This included all federally recognized tribes in the Upper Great Lakes as well as tribes in the regions of the Plains and Southwest from which the collections derive. Inventories of items for which cultural affiliation could not be determined at present were submitted to the National NAGPRA office and compiled in the national "Culturally Unidentifiable Native American Inventory." The inventories are available on the National NAGPRA website on-line databases: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nagpra/ONLINEDB/INDEX.HTM with additional information available through the Museum’s website: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/umma/nagpra/ 3. Has the Museum completed any NAGPRA repatriations? What were they? Yes, the Museum has completed three NAGPRA repatriations. These are described below. 1. Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians  On August 26, 1997, the Museum repatriated items in the Rowland Collection to the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa. These items were acquired by the Museum in 1924 from the Reverend L.P. Rowlands of Detroit, Michigan, and included one human cranium and 510 unassociated funerary objects including silver ornaments, glass beads, brass and copper kettles, an iron hoe, a pipe, and textile fragments. Accession and other collection information indicate that these items came from graves in the areas of Middle Village, Goodhart, and Cross Village, all located in Emmet County, Michigan. The process of repatriation was initiated in December, 1994, when the Museum notified Mr. Frank Ettawageshik, President of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa, of the collection, accompanied by a detailed report of all materials in it. The Museum was contacted by the community's repatriation officer, Mr. Wesley Andrews, in September 1995, initiating further discussions between the Band and the Museum. In December 1996, the Museum submitted a draft "Intent to Repatriate"1 notification to the National Park Service for inclusion in the Federal Register, as required by NAGPRA statute; the final draft was submitted in February 1997 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 24, 1997 (vol. 62, no. 36, p. 8265-8266). The collection was repatriated on August 26, 1997. 2. Little River Band of Ottawa Indians On June 30, 2000, the Museum repatriated human remains and funerary objects from the Battle Point cemetery site in Ottawa County, Michigan, to the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. In 1955, remains at the site were observed eroding into the Grand River by Mr. George Davis and Mr. Edward Gillis of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Although not professional archaeologists, they excavated two burials exposed in the riverbank and three other intact burials. In addition to human remains, David and Gillis recovered trade artifacts, including glass beads, brooches, crosses, silver ear bobs and bracelets, iron pots, and clay pots, dating the site to between 1810 and 1830. David and Gillis transferred the human remains to the Museum, though they kept the artifacts in their personal collections. In 1962, Richard Flanders of the Museum revisited the site and made a small surface collection of artifacts and human remains that had continued to erode into the river. The collection of human remains in the Museum included five distinct individuals and the co-mingled remains of at least nine other individuals. The 18 artifacts in the collection included small iron fragments, a sample of wood, one small cloth fragment, one iron nail, three silver fragments, one fish bone, and ten unidentified pieces of unmodified animal bone. The process of repatriation was initiated in December 1994, when the Museum notified Mr. Dan Bailey, Chairman of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, of the collection, accompanied by a detailed report of all materials in it. The Tribe acknowledged receipt of the notification in August 1996 and in July 1998, wrote to arrange a visit of representatives of the Tribe to examine the collection. This visit occurred on October 1, 1998. At that point, the Tribe requested that the Museum continue to curate the remains while they attempted to secure the return of collections held in other museums around the Midwest. In 1999, discouraged by the lack of progress with other museums, they decided to proceed with the UM repatriation. The museum prepared a draft "Notice of Inventory Completion" for the National Park Service, which was sent to the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Little Traverse Band of Odawa Indians, and a non-Federally recognized Indian group, the Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians. In 1999, the Museum submitted a final "Notice of Intent to Repatriate" to the Little River Band; it appeared in the Federal Register on March 30, 2000. The collection was repatriated on June 30, 2000. 3. The White Mountain Apache Tribe On May 1, 2002, the Museum repatriated a Dilzini Gaan headdress to the White Mountain Apache Tribe of Fort Apache, Arizona. The repatriation took place in Fort Apache, Arizona. The Museum of Anthropology acquired the headdress through a bequest by Mrs. Louise S. Corbusier in 1966; its prior history is unknown, other than that it was acquired in the Southwest US before 1950. In June 1998, the Museum received a letter from the Cultural Resource Director and NAGPRA Contact for the White Mountain Apache, acknowledging prior notification from the Museum and requesting further information about two items in the Museum’s collections. Following consultations with the Tonto Apache Tribe, White Mountain Apache Tribe, and the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the headdress was identified as a cultural item that played an integral role in Apache ceremonies involving the Dilzini Gaan, and the White Mountain Apache Tribe was acknowledged as the most appropriate recipient. A notice of "Intent to Repatriate" was submitted to the National Park Service on September 1, 2000, and was published in the Federal Register on March 9, 2001. Two Museum staff members transported the headdress to Arizona in late April 2001, and the repatriation occurred on May 1, 2002. 4. Has the Museum had interactions with tribes that have not yet led to repatriation of collections? Yes. The Museum has worked closely with numerous tribal organizations and welcomes inquiries about our collections. Consultations have included phone conversations, letters, email correspondence, and on-site visits. The latter include visits by representatives of the Potawatomi NAGPRA Council in January 1996, and a representative of the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department in April 1995. Negotiations were initiated with the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma concerning the repatriation of a fragment of buffalo hair rope from a known sacred bundle of the Skiri Pawnee that was acquired in 1924 and donated to the Museum in 1949, and botanical samples from the Hill Site collected in 1931, of uncertain context. The Tribe requested repatriation of the bison hair rope fragment in 1999, and a "Notice of Intent to Repatriate" was prepared for publication in the Federal Register. Prior to its publication, the Tribe withdrew its repatriation request without prejudice. The Museum is committed to NAGPRA and welcomes further communications. For general NAGPRA questions, please contact John O'Shea, NAGPRA Coordinator, joshea@umich.edu, 734-764-0485, or Carla Sinopoli, Director, sinopoli@umich.edu, 734-764-0485. For Collections information, please contact Karen O'Brien, Collections Manager, klobrien@umich.edu, 734-764-6299. 5. Does NAGPRA apply to collections originating from outside the United States? No. The NAGPRA regulations "apply to human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony which are indigenous to Alaska, Hawaii, and the continental United States, but not to territories of the United States"  [43 CFR 10.1(b)(2)] (for additional information, see http://www.cr.nps.gov/nagpra/SPECIAL/International.htm). Nonetheless, the Museum recognizes that communities located outside the United States may have legitimate interests in the repatriation of cultural remains, and accepts inquiries from individuals and communities. In 2005, the Museum completed the repatriation of a collection to a Canadian First Nation, and in 2004, the Museum helped to facilitate the repatriation of a privately held collection to representatives of the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation. Footnotes: 1A "Notice of Intent to Repatriate" is published when a museum or Federal agency, in consultation with tribes, receives, reviews, and accepts a claim by a tribe for sacred objects, unassociated funerary objects, or objects of cultural patrimony. Similarly, a "Notice of Inventory Completion" is published for the return of human remains. In both cases, if no counter-claims are published within 30 days, the repatriation can proceed.