Tribal Historic Preservation

Maintaining and protecting tribal cultural resources is a top priority of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). Sadly, the desecration of Native American burial and other sacred or historic sites has been a common occurrence across the nation, not to mention on Wampanoag ancestral lands. State and Federal laws exist to ensure the return/reburial of funerary objects and human remains and in the identification and protection of undisturbed Native American burial, sacred and historical sites.

The Tribe is currently in the process of developing a Cultural Resource Protection Program that will incorporate the Tribe's responsibilities under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA) and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).