Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is a piece of American legislation requiring that the remains of all Native American peoples be returned to their repective peoples if/when they have been excavated, where the archeological team is allowed a short time for analysis before the remains must be returned. This legislation also applies to many Native American artifacts, and has severely limited the ability of archeologists to complete their research - though it is generally agreed this legislation is necessary in order to show respect for Native religion and different religious beliefs in general.There have been some conflicts raised by this legislation, most notably the case of Kennewick man, where the direct descendants of the person/remains can not be certain. Kennewick man is the oft disputed set of remains that many argue is the remains of a caucasoid - i.e. a non-native, while other argue this really is a native's remains, and even specific tribes have claimed relation to these remains, complicating things further. One ofthe scientists involved in the Kennewick man says that he only asserted that the remains resembled those of a european but was actually "none of the above".
The NAGPRA Database is located at http://www.cast.uark.edu/products/NAGPRA/