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The Repatriation Database Data from Nov. 29, 2023

Cahuilla Band of Indians

A federally recognized Indian tribe with headquarters in California

Institutions reported making the remains of 57 Native Americans available for return to the Cahuilla Band of Indians.

The tribe was also eligible to claim more than 14,300 associated funerary objects.

Institutions continue to hold the remains of at least 400 Native Americans taken from counties known to be of interest to the tribe.*

Where Native American remains made available for return to the Cahuilla Band of Indians were taken from

Each county is a peak
Height is amount of remains taken from county and made available by institutions for return to tribe
No remains taken from these counties made available for return to tribe
Institution that made remains available for return
Circle is amount of remains institution made available for return to tribe
Ala.Ala.AlaskaAlaskaAriz.Ariz.Colo.Colo.Fla.Fla.Ga.Ga.Ind.Ind.Kan.Kan.MaineMaineMass.Mass.Minn.Minn.N.J.N.J.N.C.N.C.N.D.N.D.Okla.Okla.P.A.P.A.S.D.S.D.Tex.Tex.Wyo.Wyo.CT.CT.Mo.Mo.W.V.W.V.Ill.Ill.N.M.N.M.Ark.Ark.Calif.Calif.Del.Del.HawaiiHawaiiIowaIowaKy.Ky.MD.MD.Mich.Mich.Miss.Miss.Mont.Mont.N.H.N.H.N.Y.N.Y.OhioOhioOre.Ore.Tenn.Tenn.UtahUtahVA.VA.Wash.Wash.Wis.Wis.Neb.Neb.S.C.S.C.IdahoIdahoNev.Nev.V.T.V.T.LA.LA.R.I.R.I.
Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, when an institution establishes a connection between tribes and remains, it must publish a list of the tribes eligible to make a repatriation claim. The remains are then made available for return to the tribe(s). Once a tribal claim is made, physical transfer may occur. Many remains have been physically returned to tribes, but data on this is spotty because the law does not require institutions to report when these transfers occur.

These seven institutions made Native American remains available for return to the Cahuilla Band of Indians.

California Department of Parks and Recreation20
University of California, Berkeley10
University of California, Los Angeles, Fowler Museum of Cultural History9
San Bernardino County Museum7
University of California, Riverside5
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Department of Anthropology4
Museum of Riverside2

Timeline of Native American remains made available for return to the Cahuilla Band of Indians

Tribal and institutional capacity, funding, staffing, regulatory changes, audits, Review Committee decisions and litigation may influence timelines. Under NAGPRA, institutions determine whether Native American remains may be returned through cultural affiliation using evidence such as tribal traditional knowledge and biological and archaeological links, or through disposition based on geographic affiliation.
199020102020 0204060 57 remains 57 remains

These institutions have not made available for return the remains of at least 400 Native Americans that were taken from counties known to be of interest to the Cahuilla Band of Indians.

These are estimates calculated using remains not made available for return from counties that the tribe has previously been eligible to claim remains from, as well as counties that the tribe has indicated interest in to the federal government. They are not comprehensive figures. The tribe may not wish to claim the remains, and other tribes may also seek to claim them.
Los Angeles County103
Univ. of California, Berkeley91
Los Angeles County Natural History Museum77
Autry Museum of the American West55
Cal. State, Northridge27
New York Univ.27
Museum of Us17
Univ. of California, Riverside11
Dept. of Defense10
Southwest Naval Facilities Engineering Command (8)
Los Angeles District (1)
National Museum of Health and Medicine (1)
San Bernardino County Museum9
Harvard Univ.7
California Dept. of Parks and Recreation5
Bowers Museum4
American Museum of Natural History3
Cal. State, Dominguez Hills3
Dartmouth College3
Illinois State Museum3
Cal. State, Fullerton2
Carnegie Museum of Natural History2
Discovery Place1
Earlham College1
Lackawanna Historical Society1
Minnesota Indian Affairs Council1
Peabody Essex Museum1
Univ. of California, Davis1
Univ. of California, Santa Barbara1
Univ. of Michigan1
Univ. of New Mexico1
Counties of interest used in estimate include: Kings, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego in California.
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About the Data

This tool presents a dataset maintained by the National Park Service containing all the Native American human remains and associated funerary objects that institutions have reported to the federal government under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The dataset includes information about the state and county where remains and objects were taken from, which institutions hold them and whether they have been made available for return to tribes.

The data is self-reported by institutions. The amount of unrepatriated Native American remains reported by institutions is a minimum estimate of individuals and institutions frequently adjust these numbers when they reinventory groups of remains. Some institutions that are subject to NAGPRA have also entirely failed to report the remains in their possession. As a result, the numbers provided are best taken as estimates. The actual number and geographic scope of what’s held by publicly funded institutions is larger than what is presently documented.

ProPublica supplemented this dataset with information about cultural affiliation and disposition to specific tribes by systematically parsing the text of Notices of Inventory Completion published in the Federal Register. An additional dataset from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Tribal Directory Assessment Tool, was used for the section on remains not made available for return from counties that each tribe has indicated interest in to the federal government.

Institution location and tribal headquarters location information was provided by National NAGPRA. The location of some groups that are not federally recognized was provided through research by ProPublica.

Institutions that are part of a larger entity are grouped. (For example, the Mesa Verde National Park is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.)

Institutions that have not submitted information to the federal government are not listed. The Smithsonian Institution is not listed because its repatriation process falls under the National Museum of the American Indian Act and it is not required to publicly report its holdings with the same detail as institutions subject to NAGPRA.

If you work for an institution and would like to provide comment on your institution’s repatriation efforts, please email repatriation@propublica.org. If you think the data is incorrect or have a data request, please get in touch. We are aware of some issues with the accuracy of location information and tribes mistakenly being identified for disposition of Native American remains in published notices.

If you want to share something else with ProPublica, we’d like to hear from you.

If you have questions about implementing or complying with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, get in touch with National NAGPRA or the NAGPRA Community of Practice.

We use the word “tribes” to refer to all groups that institutions made Native American remains available to under NAGPRA. This includes tribes, nations, bands, pueblos, communities, Native Alaskan villages, Native Hawaiian organizations and non-federally recognized groups.

Data sources from Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National NAGPRA Program, the Federal Register, Department of Housing and Development, Tribal Directory Assessment Tool