NAGPRA requires museums, agencies and universities to compile detailed summaries and inventories, consult with Native American tribes, and follow a process to return human remains and cultural items that meet the requirements outlined in the law and are claimed by a tribe or tribes.

NAGPRA covers five different categories: human remains, associated and unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony.

Human remains - culturally affiliated are connected to a modern day tribe where as, culturally unidentifiable are not.

Funerary objects - are items that would have been placed with human remains as part of the death rite or ceremony of a culture. In the event the museum holds both the human remains and funerary objects, the funerary objects are considered associated. In the event the human remains are not in the possession of a museum, objects are considered unassociated.

Sacred objects -  are ceremonial objects which are needed by traditional Native American religious leaders for the practice of traditional Native American religions by their present day adherents.

An object of cultural patrimony - is an object which has historical, traditional, or cultural importance to the Native American group, rather than property owned by an individual Native American, and which, therefore, cannot be alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by any individual.

Cultural affiliation - a relationship of shared group identity which can be reasonably traced historically or prehistorically between a present day Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization and an identifiable earlier group” (25 USC 3001 (2)). NAGPRA considers multiple lines of evidence including geographical, kinship, biological, archaeological, linguistic, folkloric, oral tradition, historical, or other information.

Culturally unidentifiable - when a relationship of a shared group identity cannot be established due to lack of evidence. Culturally unidentifiable remains are eligible to be claimed and transferred to Native American tribes using the 43 CFR 10.11 regulations.