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Do we have a link of Kennewick?
'''Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act''' (NAGPRA) in a [[Congress]]ional Act signed into law in 1990. The law is an attempt to provide a way for native people to accomplish several things including: 1) protection of [[holy]] sites and religious burials from development without consent, 2) the return to [[tribe]]s of Native American bones and artifacts stolen from them over the last 500 years, and 3) providing more independent oversight of construction or land development sites on Indian Territory.
==Criticisms==
While in general this bill has been long overdue, and is a building block of better relations with Indian people and the US Government, it has some de-facto problems.
#At what point are ancient bones of "anthropological" interest in general, and at what point are they truly bones of a given tribe? 500 year old bones? 1000 year old bones?<ref>See Kennewick Man controversy and the small role NAGPRA played in the situation</ref> 10,000 year old bones? If a bone were found in the US, to be 1,500,000 years old, and show evidence of Alien presence, is that still a "Native American" bone? <ref> Though this example is extreme, the fact is that the law itself makes no clear distinction between bones that would clearly be the legacy of a particular tribe, and those old enough to simply be something more generally "human interest".</ref>
#Which tribe gets to say if a location can be disturbed, or of the location under construction is a religious site?
#What happens when 2 or more tribes demand access to bones and artifacts.
Like most modern human endeavors, much of this law provides quality redress of centuries of mistreatment; however, amoral lawyers, Indian leaders, and political figures can and do abuse the law for profit or power.
[[Category:Indian Law]]
==Criticisms==
While in general this bill has been long overdue, and is a building block of better relations with Indian people and the US Government, it has some de-facto problems.
#At what point are ancient bones of "anthropological" interest in general, and at what point are they truly bones of a given tribe? 500 year old bones? 1000 year old bones?<ref>See Kennewick Man controversy and the small role NAGPRA played in the situation</ref> 10,000 year old bones? If a bone were found in the US, to be 1,500,000 years old, and show evidence of Alien presence, is that still a "Native American" bone? <ref> Though this example is extreme, the fact is that the law itself makes no clear distinction between bones that would clearly be the legacy of a particular tribe, and those old enough to simply be something more generally "human interest".</ref>
#Which tribe gets to say if a location can be disturbed, or of the location under construction is a religious site?
#What happens when 2 or more tribes demand access to bones and artifacts.
Like most modern human endeavors, much of this law provides quality redress of centuries of mistreatment; however, amoral lawyers, Indian leaders, and political figures can and do abuse the law for profit or power.
[[Category:Indian Law]]