Indigenous "Antiquities" and "Artifacts" ARE Cultural Heritage

What to do if you have or find a Native cultural heritage item.

We Are Here to Support Returns

​If you have questions or concerns about items in your possession, please contact us.

​We can help:
  • find information about your items 
  • make appropriate connections with official Native Nation representatives
  • work with you to facilitate return arrangements 

In many cases, items can be charitably donated back to their respective Nation or through a non-profit like the Association, or other suitable arrangements can be made for return. ​​
Kay Kkendasot Mattena, a citizen of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and Program Associate, interviews Lilly Holland about the process of returning her grandmother’s private collection of Native cultural belongings.

Laws That May Apply

If you are holding Native Cultural Heritage, then you are holding sensitive items that belong to a Native Nation, a Native Hawaiian Organization, Indigenous Group or lineal descendant (herafter, "Native Nation"). It is known as “community” property or "patrimony" and specifically means it belongs to a collective - like a sovereign Native Nation. Therefore, no individual would have the right to remove the item from that Native Nation without proper authority or consent from that Nation at the time the item was removed from that Nation - or has since obtained consent.

There are several federal, state and Native Nation laws that apply to these cases, even if NAGPRA does not apply! A purchaser can never obtain good title from a thief, even if the theft occurred decades in the past. Here are some laws that may apply:
  •  18 U.S. Code § 1163 - Embezzlement and theft from Indian tribal organizations;
  • 25 U.S. Code § 194 - Trial of right of property; burden of proof (the non-Indian has the burden to prove that they have a right of possession);
  • 16 USC Ch. 1B – The Archaeological Resources Protection Act incorporates any state law that was violated to obtain items;
  • Common law theft and other laws;
  • Native Nation laws, customs and traditions include that Native Nations have the inherent or expressed jurisdiction over their cultural heritage, regardless of where it is located.

Keep reading below to learn more about what you can do to return our stolen heritage and Ancestors' bodies.