Civil & Administrative

Notice of Inventory Completion: S'edav Va'aki Museum – Human Remains and Funerary Objects Repatriation (Phoenix, AZ)

🇺🇸United States··Notice·Low Impact·View source ↗

AI-generated summary for informational purposes only. Not legal advice. See the original source for the authoritative text.

🇬🇧 English

The S'edav Va'aki Museum (formerly Pueblo Grande Museum), operated by the City of Phoenix, Arizona, has formally completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects held in its collections, as required under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). This federal law mandates that museums and federal agencies identify, inventory, and repatriate Native American cultural items to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated tribes. Following the inventory process, the museum has determined that a cultural affiliation exists between the human remains and associated funerary objects in its possession and one or more Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice. This determination is a prerequisite for initiating the formal repatriation process under NAGPRA. The completion of this inventory triggers a statutory 30-day notice period during which federally recognized tribes or individuals claiming affiliation may formally request repatriation of the identified items. No transfer of the human remains or funerary objects may occur until this notice period has elapsed and proper repatriation procedures are followed. This notice is published in the Federal Register and represents a legally significant step in the ongoing federal effort to return ancestral remains and sacred objects to Indigenous communities, consistent with NAGPRA's protections enacted in 1990.

AI-generated summary. May contain errors. Refer to official sources for legal decisions.

Key Changes

  • S'edav Va'aki Museum (formerly Pueblo Grande Museum), City of Phoenix, AZ has completed a NAGPRA-mandated inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects.
  • Cultural affiliation has been formally determined between the inventoried items and one or more federally recognized Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations.
  • A 30-day statutory notice period is now in effect, during which affiliated tribes or individuals may submit formal repatriation requests.

+ 2 more changes with Pro

Obligations

What this law requires

high

Complete a formal inventory of all human remains and associated funerary objects held in museum collections

Museums and federal agencies holding Native American cultural items
operational
high

Determine and document cultural affiliation between human remains/funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations

Museums and federal agencies holding Native American cultural items
operational
high

Publish notice in the Federal Register identifying the human remains and funerary objects and the affiliated tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations

Museums and federal agencies holding Native American cultural items
disclosure
high

Observe a mandatory 30-day notice period from publication before transferring, repatriating, or otherwise disposing of human remains and funerary objects

Museums and federal agencies holding Native American cultural items
prohibition
high

Accept and process formal requests for repatriation from federally recognized tribes or individuals claiming affiliation during the 30-day notice period

Museums and federal agencies holding Native American cultural items
operational

Affected Parties

Federally recognized Indian Tribes with cultural affiliation to the Phoenix/Pueblo Grande archaeological regionNative Hawaiian organizations with potential claims under NAGPRA+3 more…

Tags

NAGPRA,repatriation,Native American