ABSTRACT
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President George Bush in November 1990. On various occasions I have heard this Act compared to a hot dog, that is to say, “you do not want to know what went into it.” But in trying to understand how the law functions on a practical basis, it is important to know how the specific language and definitions in the Act were formulated as this wording has implications for the implementation of the Act.
