Page 12 - uc20180926nagpra

University of California, Davis
NAGPRA Compliance Report

September 10, 2018

Background

The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) is fully committed to the repatriation and transfer of
human remains and cultural items as required by the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and California NAGPRA (Cal-NAGPRA). UC Davis houses Native American
human remains and cultural items subject to NAGPRA in three separate campus repositories including
the Department of Anthropology Museum, the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, and the Shields
Library Special Collections. The majority of materials subject to NAGPRA is housed in the Department of
Anthropology Museum, which curates archaeological and ethnographic collections, primarily from
California. In 2014, UC Davis reorganized NAGPRA compliance responsibilities by centralizing compliance
under the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, and hiring a NAGPRA Project Manager,
charged with developing a proactive consultation program.

UC Davis, in policy and practice, recognizes the rights of Native Americans to the repatriation or
disposition of Native American human remains and cultural items, while simultaneously recognizing that
human remains and cultural items can provide valuable information to further learning, teaching, and
research.

Scope

UC Davis holds or held Native American human remains from approximately 325 individuals,
approximately 12,000 associated funerary objects, and 155 unassociated funerary objects. Human
remains and cultural items were primarily obtained between 1960 and 1987 as a result of excavations in
anticipation of development projects or University sponsored field schools. In addition, human remains
were inadvertently discovered and transferred to the campus by Coroners or individuals.

Approximately 15% of human remains (48 of the 325 individuals) and 72% of associated funerary objects
(8,600 of the 12,000 objects) have been determined to be culturally affiliated, or share a group identity
that can be traced between a federally recognized Native American tribes and an identifiable earlier
group. Notices of Inventory Completion for all culturally affiliated human remains and funerary objects
have either been published in the Federal Register or submitted to National NAGPRA for publication. UC
Davis’s holdings of Native American human remains and cultural items are primarily limited
(approximately 99%) to Northern and Central California. The remaining human remains (approximately
1%) originate from Arizona and Oregon. UC Davis previously held human remains from Alaska which
were successfully repatriated in 2016. The majority of human remains and cultural items were removed
from aboriginal lands of federally recognized tribes. UC Davis holds human remains and cultural items
from one site that may likely be associated with non-federally recognized Indian groups.

Summaries

Summaries of collections that may contain unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of
cultural patrimony were submitted to potentially affiliated tribes with invitations to consult in 1993 and
subsequently by the deadlines established by the future applicability regulations. Summaries were also
provided to the National Park Service and National NAGPRA as required. UC Davis reported
approximately 150 accessions through NAGPRA summaries with invitations to consult to over 530 tribes.
UC Davis holds 155 objects known to meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects. Repatriations