NAGPRA/CalNAGPRA at Sacramento State

Sacramento State holds Native American ancestral remains and cultural items from numerous localities, primarily located in Northern California. These are housed in the campus Archaeological Curation Facility (ACF), which acts as a repository for collections generated by past Department of Anthropology fieldwork and collections controlled by other state and federal agencies, and in the Museum of Anthropology.

Sacramento State is committed to fulfilling the University’s responsibilities under NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA. Repatriation activities at Sacramento State are led by a core staff with oversight by the Office of the President and the NAGPRA Implementation Committee. Mark Wheeler, Senior Advisor to the President, serves as the campus NAGPRA Designee. For questions regarding NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA at Sacramento State, please contact the NAGPRA Coordinator, Sarah Eckhardt via email at Sarah.eckhardt@dlokoko.com, telephone at (916) 278-6292 or mail at:

Sarah Eckhardt
NAGPRA Coordinator
Office of the President, MS 6106
6000 J Street
Sacramento, CA 95819-6106

Repatraition Progress

The charts below represent a summary of Sacramento State's current repatriation progress for ancestral remains and cultural items. The percentages are approximations and are subject to change as consultations, collection reviews, and repatriations continue. The percentages also do not include repatriation progress for collections controlled by other agencies that are housed at Sacramento State.

“Repatriated” means legal transfer to a culturally-affiliated Tribal Nation has occurred, but physical transfer may not have occurred yet. “In process” includes both collections that have been claimed by a Tribal Nation and are working through the next steps in the repatriation process, and collections that have completed the regulatory process (ie have been published in a Notice), but have not yet been requested for repatriation.

Last updated February 2025.

Reporting Native American Ancestral Remains and Cultural Objects

As part of Sacramento State's legal obligation under state and federal repatriation laws, and our ethical duty to our Tribal partners, we will regularly survey campus to ensure there are no unreported Native American ancestral remains and cultural objects that are the responsibility of the University. We have also established the form below to allow anyone to anonymously report at any time human remains and Native American cultural objects that they may have encountered during their work or studies at Sacramento State. While the form below is anonymous, you may elect to provide contact information if you wish the NAGPRA Coordinator to follow up with you directly. All responses are confidential.

Anonymous Reporting of Human Remains and Native American Cultural Objects at Sac State

Campus NAGPRA Advisory Committee

Sacramento State NAGPRA Implementation Committee oversees and counsels the University on matters relating to NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA. This includes making recommendations that are consistent with legislation and the mission of the University; offering recommendations on policies and procedures; reviewing claims and requests submitted by Tribal Nations; and providing guidance on other aspects of the appropriate implementation of repatriation law. The committee meets monthly.

Currently, committee members include representatives of the University’s Ethnic Studies Department and Native American Studies program, and three outside representatives from California Tribal Nations. There are two vacancies on the committee, a representative from a non-federally recognized California Tribal Nation and an additional campus representative. The current members have been nominated by the NAHC and appointed by the California State University Chancellor’s Office, as required under CalNAGPRA.

Vacancies to the committee will be announced and nomination forms and instructions can be accessed through the Chancellor's Office.

CalNAGPRA Inventories/Summaries

Sacramento State submitted Preliminary Inventories and Summaries of our archaeological and ethnographic collections from California to the California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), as required under CalNAGPRA. These inventories and summaries are now available for review on the NAHC's website. They are continuously updated as repatriations, consultations, and discoveries of unreported ancestral remains and cultural objects occur.