In 2023, New York State passed a law to protect unmarked burial sites. The “unmarked burial site protection act” (Executive Law § 171) applies to all unmarked graves with special provisions for Native American burials. Indigenous burial sites have long been the target of looters, collectors, and archaeologists in the name of science. As a result, ancestral remains and cultural items have been held in museums, private collections, and sold as curiosities. The federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was established to return Indigenous human remains and cultural objects already held by federally funded institutions, but it does not protect new discoveries of human remains and funerary objects.

The new law enacts a process for the respectful treatment of unmarked burial sites with the goal of ensuring protection from disturbance, whether intentional or accidental. It codifies the rights of Indigenous Nations to determine a course of action when ancestral burial sites are found and provides a role for lineal descendants and descendant communities. A Native American Burial Site Review Committee, made up of representatives of Indigenous Nations in the state, determines how ancestral remains and cultural objects are to be treated and their disposition when they are found. The preferred outcome for any discovery is the protection of the burial site without further disturbance.

The law also established penalties for non-compliance from a misdemeanor for failing to report the discovery of an unmarked grave to a felony for intentionally defacing or desecrating human remains and funerary objects.

If you think you have found human remains or an unmarked burial, CALL 911.

For more information: https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/unmarked-burial-site-protection-act