Department of Anthropology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Department of Culture and History, Sealaska Heritage Institute, Juneau, Alaska, USA.
Am J Biol Anthropol. 2023 Aug;181(4):527-534. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24726. Epub 2023 Apr 13.
In the United States, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) provides a specific framework for the disposition of Native American Ancestral remains within its purview. However, samples such as a bone fragment, tooth, or other biological tissue taken from the remains of these Ancestors have been treated by institutions and researchers as independent of the individual from whom they were removed and used in destructive research such as paleogenomic and other archaeometric analyses without consultation, consent, and collaboration from Native American communities; are not cared for in keeping with the current best practices for Indigenous Ancestors; and are not likely to be repatriated to their communities. Here, we demonstrate that any biological samples removed from Ancestors who are covered under NAGPRA must also be handled according to the stipulations defined for "human remains" within the legislation. As such, we are not proposing a change to existing legislation, but rather best practices, specific to the context of the United States and NAGPRA, relating to the use of and care for biological samples taken from Native American Ancestors.
在美国，《美国原住民墓地保护和遣返法案》（NAGPRA）为其管辖范围内的美国原住民祖先遗骸的处理提供了具体框架。然而，这些祖先遗骸的样本，如骨碎片、牙齿或其他生物组织，已被机构和研究人员视为与被移除的个体无关，并被用于破坏性研究，如古基因组学和其他考古计量分析，而没有与美国原住民社区进行协商、同意和合作；不符合当前对原住民祖先的最佳关怀实践；并且不太可能被遣返到他们的社区。在这里，我们证明，从受 NAGPRA 保护的祖先身上取出的任何生物样本也必须按照立法中为“人类遗骸”定义的规定进行处理。因此，我们不是要改变现有的立法，而是要提出与美国和 NAGPRA 相关的具体最佳实践，涉及到从美国原住民祖先身上提取的生物样本的使用和护理。
