From the Battle Creek Enquirer:

WMU helps museum identify human remnants as Native American
The Enquirer

Professors from Western Michigan University identified human remains in the Kingman Museum collection to be those of Native Americans on Tuesday.

Anthropologist professors and several students inspected 11 boxes of remains, scalps and cultural artifacts at the museum’s request.

The museum was complying with the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which federally regulates that institutions identify and return certain Native American cultural items to lineal descendants or culturally affiliated Indian tribes.

The Michigan Anishnaabek Cultural Preservation and Repatriation Alliance (MACPRA), which represents the state’s federally recognized and historic Indian tribes, asked that Kingman identify the unknown remains.

The bones came from as nearby as Coldwater Avenue in Battle Creek and as far as the Grand Canyon and Peru. Remains found in Alaska and near Muskegon were deemed to be those of several Native Americans and the others were either unidentifiable or purchased through medical companies.

Here’s the National NAGPRA site.

Here’s the full text of the statute.