Glossary

Over 40 terms, from "Act" to "United States", are defined here in this online dictionary for easy reference. Terms are listed alphabetically.

Term	Description
Act	The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Ahupua‘a (singular and plural)	A traditional land division in Hawai‘i usually extending from the uplands to the sea.
Appropriate official	Any representative authorized by a delegation of authority within an Indian Tribe, Native Hawaiian organization, Federal agency, or Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) that has responsibility for human remains or cultural items on Federal or Tribal lands.
ARPA	The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, as amended (16 U.S.C. 470aa-mm) and the relevant Federal agency regulations implementing that statute.
ARPA Indian lands	Lands of Indian Tribes, or individual Indians, which are either held in trust by the United States Government or subject to a restriction against alienation imposed by the United States Government, except for any subsurface interests in lands not owned or controlled by an Indian Tribe or an individual Indian.
ARPA Public lands	The lands owned and administered by the United States Government as part of: (1) The national park system, (2) The national wildlife refuge system, (3) The national forest system, and (4) All other lands the fee title to which is held by the United States Government, other than lands on the Outer Continental Shelf and lands which are under the jurisdiction of the Smithsonian Institution.
Assistant Secretary	The official of the Department of the Interior designated by the Secretary of the Interior as responsible for exercising the Secretary of the Interior’s authority under the Act.
Consultation or consult	The exchange of information, open discussion, and joint deliberations made between all parties in good-faith and in order to: (1) seek, discuss, and consider the views of all parties; (2) strive for consensus, agreement, or mutually acceptable alternatives; and (3) enable meaningful consideration of the Native American traditional knowledge of lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations.
Cultural affiliation	There is a reasonable connection between human remains or cultural items and an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization based on a relationship of shared group identity. Cultural affiliation may be identified clearly by the information available or reasonably by the geographical location or acquisition history of the human remains or cultural items.
Cultural items	A funerary object, sacred object, or object of cultural patrimony according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization.
Custody	Having an obligation to care for the object or item but not a sufficient interest in the object or item to constitute possession or control. In general, custody through a loan, lease, license, bailment, or other similar arrangement is not a sufficient interest to constitute possession or control, which resides with the loaning, leasing, licensing, bailing, or otherwise transferring museum or Federal agency.
Discovery	Exposing, finding, or removing human remains or cultural items whether intentionally or inadvertently on Federal or Tribal lands without a written authorization for an excavation under §10.6 of this part.
Disposition	An appropriate official recognizes a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization has ownership or control of human remains or cultural items removed from Federal or Tribal lands.
Excavation	Intentionally exposing, finding, or removing human remains or cultural items on Federal or Tribal lands with a written authorization under §10.6 of this part. Federal agency means any department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States Government. This term does not include the Smithsonian Institution.
Federal lands	Any lands other than Tribal lands that are controlled or owned by the United States Government. For purposes of this definition, control refers to lands not owned by the United States Government, but in which the United States Government has a sufficient legal interest to permit it to apply these regulations without abrogating a person’s existing legal rights. Whether the United States Government has a sufficient legal interest to control lands it does not own is a legal determination that a Federal agency must make on a case-by-case basis. Federal lands include: (1) Any lands selected by, but not yet conveyed to, an Alaska Native Corporation organized under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.); (2) Any lands other than Tribal lands that are held by the United States Government in trust for an individual Indian or lands owned by an individual Indian and subject to a restriction on alienation by the United States Government; and (3) Any lands subject to a statutory restriction, lease, easement, agreement, or similar arrangement containing terms that grant to the United States Government indicia of control over those lands.
Funerary object	Any object reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near human remains. A funerary object is any object connected, either at the time of death or later, to a death rite or ceremony of a Native American culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. This term does not include any object returned or distributed to living persons according to traditional custom after a death rite or ceremony. Funerary objects are either associated funerary objects or unassociated funerary objects.
Associated funerary object	Any funerary object related to human remains that were removed and the location of the human remains is known. Any object made exclusively for burial purposes or to contain human remains is always an associated funerary object regardless of the physical location or existence of any related human remains.
Unassociated funerary object	Any funerary object that is not an associated funerary object and is identified by a preponderance of the evidence as one or more of the following: (i) Related to human remains but the human remains were not removed, or the location of the human remains is unknown, (ii) Related to specific individuals or families, (iii) Removed from a specific burial site of an individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization, or (iv) Removed from a specific area where a burial site of an individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization is known to have existed, but the burial site is no longer extant.
Holding or collection	An accumulation of one or more objects, items, or human remains for any temporary or permanent purpose, including: (1) Academic interest, (2) Accession, (3) Catalog, (4) Comparison, (5) Conservation, (6) Education, (7) Examination, (8) Exhibition, (9) Forensic purposes, (10) Interpretation, (11) Preservation, (12) Public benefit, (13) Research, (14) Scientific interest, or (15) Study.
Human remains	Any physical part of the body of a Native American individual. This term does not include human remains to which a museum or Federal agency can prove it has a right of possession. (1) Human remains reasonably believed to be comingled with other materials (such as soil or faunal remains) may be treated as human remains. (2) Human remains incorporated into a funerary object, sacred object, or object of cultural patrimony are considered part of the cultural items rather than human remains. (3) Human remains incorporated into an object or item that is not a funerary object, sacred object, or object of cultural patrimony are considered human remains.
Indian Tribe	Any Tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community of Indians, including any Alaska Native village (as defined in, or established pursuant to, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.)), recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States Government to Indians because of their status as Indians by its inclusion on the list of recognized Indian Tribes published by the Secretary of the Interior under the Act of November 2, 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131).
Inventory	A simple itemized list of any human remains and associated funerary objects in a holding or collection that incorporates the results of consultation and makes determinations about cultural affiliation.
Lineal descendant	(1) A living person tracing ancestry, either by means of traditional Native American kinship systems, or by the common-law system of descent, to a known individual whose human remains, funerary objects, or sacred objects are subject to this part; or (2) A living person tracing ancestry, either by means of traditional Native American kinship systems, or by the common-law system of descent, to all the known individuals represented by comingled human remains (example: the human remains of two individuals have been comingled, and a living person can trace ancestry directly to both of the deceased individuals).
Manager, National NAGPRA Program	The official of the Department of the Interior designated by the Secretary of the Interior as responsible for administration of the Act and this part.
Museum	Any institution or State or local government agency (including any institution of higher learning) that has possession or control of human remains or cultural items and receives Federal funds. The term does not include the Smithsonian Institution.
Native American	Of, or relating to, a Tribe, people, or culture that is indigenous to the United States. To be considered Native American under this part, human remains or cultural items must bear some relationship to a Tribe, people, or culture indigenous to the United States. (1) A Tribe is an Indian Tribe. (2) A people comprise the entire body of persons who constitute a community, Tribe, nation, or other group by virtue of a common culture, history, religion, language, race, ethnicity, or similar feature. The Native Hawaiian Community is a “people.” (3) A culture comprises the characteristic features of everyday existence shared by people in a place or time.
Native American traditional knowledge	Knowledge, philosophies, beliefs, traditions, skills, and practices that are developed, embedded, and often safeguarded by or confidential to individual Native Americans, Indian Tribes, or the Native Hawaiian Community. Native American traditional knowledge contextualizes relationships between and among people, the places they inhabit, and the broader world around them, covering a wide variety of information, including, but not limited to, cultural, ecological, linguistic, religious, scientific, societal, spiritual, and technical knowledge. Native American traditional knowledge may be, but is not required to be, developed, sustained, and passed through time, often forming part of a cultural or spiritual identity. Native American traditional knowledge is expert opinion.
Native Hawaiian organization	Any organization that: (1) Serves and represents the interests of Native Hawaiians, who are descendants of the indigenous people who, before 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area that now constitutes the State of Hawai‘i; (2) Has as a primary and stated purpose the provision of services to Native Hawaiians; and (3) Has expertise in Native Hawaiian affairs, and includes but is not limited to: (i) The Office of Hawaiian Affairs established by the constitution of the State of Hawai‘i, (ii) Native Hawaiian organizations (including ‘ohana) who are registered with the Secretary of the Interior’s Office of Native Hawaiian Relations, and (iii) Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (HHCA) Beneficiary Associations and Homestead Associations as defined under 43 CFR 47.10.
Object of cultural patrimony	An object that has ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to a Native American group, including any constituent sub-group (such as a band, clan, lineage, ceremonial society, or other subdivision), according to the Native American traditional knowledge of an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization. An object of cultural patrimony may have been entrusted to a caretaker, along with the authority to confer that responsibility to another caretaker. The object must be reasonably identified as being of such importance central to the group that it: (1) Cannot or could not be alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by any person,including its caretaker, regardless of whether the person is a member of the group, and (2) Must have been considered inalienable by the group at the time the object was separated from the group.
‘Ohana (singular and plural)	A group of people who are not asserting that they are lineal descendants but comprise a Native Hawaiian organization whose members have a familial or kinship relationship with each other.
Person	(1) An individual, partnership, corporation, trust, institution, association, or any other private entity; or (2) Any representative, official, employee, agent, department, or instrumentality of the United States Government or of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization, or of any State or subdivision of a State.
Possession or control	Having a sufficient interest in an object or item to independently direct, manage, oversee, or restrict the use of the object or item. A museum or Federal agency may have possession or control regardless of the physical location of the object or item. In general, custody through a loan, lease, license, bailment, or other similar arrangement is not a sufficient interest to constitute possession or control, which resides with the loaning, leasing, licensing, bailing, or otherwise transferring museum or Federal agency.
Receives Federal funds	An institution or State or local government agency (including an institution of higher learning) directly or indirectly receives Federal financial assistance after November 16, 1990, including any grant; cooperative agreement; loan; contract; use of Federal facilities, property, or services; or other arrangement involving the transfer of anything of value for a public purpose authorized by a law of the United States Government. This term includes Federal financial assistance provided for any purpose that is received by a larger entity of which the institution or agency is a part. For example, if an institution or agency is a part of a State or local government or a private university, and the State or local government or private university receives Federal financial assistance for any purpose, then the institution or agency receives Federal funds for the purpose of these regulations. This term does not include procurement of property or services by and for the direct benefit or use of the United States Government or Federal payments that are compensatory.
Repatriation	A museum or Federal agency relinquishes possession or control of human remains or cultural items in a holding or collection to a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization.
Review Committee	The advisory committee established under the Act.
Right of possession	Possession or control obtained with the voluntary consent of a person or group that had authority of alienation. Right of possession is given through the original acquisition of: (1) An unassociated funerary object, a sacred object, or an object of cultural patrimony from an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with the voluntary consent of a person or group with authority to alienate the object; or (2) Human remains or associated funerary objects which were exhumed, removed, or otherwise obtained with full knowledge and consent of the next of kin or, when no next of kin is ascertainable, the official governing body of the appropriate Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
Sacred object	A specific ceremonial object needed by a traditional religious leader for present-day adherents to practice traditional Native American religion, according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. While many items might be imbued with sacredness in a culture, this term is specifically limited to an object needed for the observance or renewal of a Native American religious ceremony.
Summary	A written description of a holding or collection that may contain an unassociated funerary object, sacred object, or object of cultural patrimony.
Traditional religious leader	A person needed to practice traditional Native American religion, according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization.
Tribal lands	(1) All lands that are within the exterior boundaries of any Indian reservation, (2) All lands that are dependent Indian communities, and (3) All lands administered by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (HHCA, 42 Stat. 108) and Section 4 of the Act to Provide for the Admission of the State of Hawai‘i into the Union (73 Stat. 4), including “available lands” and “Hawaiian home lands.”
Tribal lands of an NHO	Tribal lands in Hawai‘i that are under the stewardship of a Native Hawaiian organization through a lease or license issued under HHCA section 204(a)(2), second paragraph, second proviso, or section 207(c)(1)(B).
Unclaimed human remains or cultural items	Human remains or cultural items removed from Federal or Tribal lands whose disposition has not occurred under this part.
United States	The 50 States and the District of Columbia.