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DocuSign Envelope ID: 16F7E188 -42F5- 4144- AF1B- 934E4ACOFE59 <br />VI. Human Remains <br />North Carolina and federal statutes and attendant regulations provide general directions for the <br />recovery, handling, treatment, analysis and disposition of human skeletal remains and associated <br />objects. These include the Indian Antiquities, Archaeological Resources, Unmarked Human Skeletal <br />Remains Protection, and Archaeological Record Program Acts (G.S.70), Abandoned and Neglected <br />Cemeteries (G.S. 65 Article 12), and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act <br />(P.L. 101 -601). Regardless of the historical or cultural associations of discovered human remains, all <br />burials deserve respectful treatment transcending the care afforded to any other class of <br />archaeological materials. <br />The exact methods for recovery and disposition of human remains should be determined on a case - <br />by -case basis. Each case requires specificity that goes beyond the general- -and often confusing or <br />contradictory -- regulatory requirements. Legal procedures must be followed, but the methods of how <br />each burial is to be handled should be properly defined in the terms of agreements among the <br />concerned parties (descendants, landowners, agencies, and archaeologists). Each agreement should <br />precisely outline mutual responsibilities and the steps to be taken for recovery, treatment, analysis, <br />and disposition of the remains. <br />As it is impossible in these guidelines to predict the terms and conditions of such agreements, we <br />provide no particular instructions on the handling of human remains here. The State Archaeologist <br />or federal agency officials should be contacted for direct guidance whenever burials are discovered. <br />Law enforcement officials, local or state medical examiners, Tribal authorities, landowners and other <br />individuals should also be involved in consultations. <br />In almost every instance, short- or long -term curation of human remains is an important <br />consideration. Unlike other archaeological materials, most human remains will eventually be <br />returned to the next of kin or descendants for reburial. The remains must be carefully handled, <br />documented, and protected from unnecessary harm or deterioration during the entire process of <br />removal, transportation, and analysis. <br />The types of scientific and historical information to be gained studying human burials will vary from <br />one instance to the next, and are without question important to our understanding of human culture <br />and history. But human remains are not artifacts in the same sense as stone tools, glass fragments, or <br />ceramic vessel sherds. Human remains must be afforded the special considerations fixed in law and <br />through mutually- agreeable terms established among the concerned parties. <br />North Carolina Oce of State Archaeology — Archaeological Investigation Standard and Guidelines December 2017) Page 40 <br />