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          Jennifer
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          NAGPRA Team


     Press Release--Department of the Interior/National Park Service

     For Immediate Release
     Public Affairs:  Cindy Daly (202) 208-4993

     NATIONAL PARK SERVICE SENDS INVENTORY OF REMAINS TO TRIBES, NATIVE
     HAWAIIAN GROUPS

     Bringing to an end an arduous five-year task, the National Park
     Service (NPS) has sent inventories of all Native American human
     remains and associated funerary objects under its control to 139
     culturally affiliated Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.

     NPS Director Roger Kennedy praised the effort of those who brought the
     taks to completion.  "This accounting required the hard work of
     ethnographers, curators, Indian liaison officers, archeologists,
     historians, and many, many other dedicated National Park Service
     professionals," said Kennedy.  "The repatriation process demonstrates
     our commitment to the common ground and common purpose we all share as
     Americans."

     The effort is being carried out under the Native American Graves
     Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), passed in 1990.  NAGPRA
     requires that federal agencies and institutions receiving federal
     funds inventory the Native American remains and associated funerary
     objects in their collections in consultation with culturally
     affiliated Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.  The
     inventories, completed last November, had to be turned over to the
     appropriate Native groups by May 16.

     The NPS inventory identified 4,982 human remains from 100 different
     parks.  Approximately 77 percent were identified as culturally
     affiliated with present-day tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations;
     1,170 were culturally unidentifiable.  The NAGPRA review committee, a
     federal advisory group, will make recommendations on the disposition
     of the culturally unidentifiable remains.

     "This is only the first step in returning these remains to where they
     rightfully belong," said Kennedy.  "This is an expression of our
     intent to do what is right."

     For more information contact Dr. C. Timothy McKeown, NAGPRA Team
     Leader, Archeology and Ethnography Program, National Park Service,
     P.O. Box 37127, Washington, DC  20013-7127, phone:(202) 343-4101,
     fax:(202) 523-1547.

                               -NPS-