Sec. 34.04.06.04. Determinations of Lineal Descent and Cultural Affiliation

A. Lineal descent from a deceased individual whose remains or associated funerary objects are in the possession, custody, or control of the Trust, or cultural affiliation of a Native American tribe with those remains or objects, may be established through:

(1) The inventory process set forth in Regulation .03 of this chapter; or

(2) Documentary evidence as set forth in §B or C of this regulation.

B. A person may establish that the person is a lineal descendant of a deceased individual whose remains and associated funerary objects are in the possession, custody, or control of the Trust by providing to the Trust documentation tracing the person's ancestry directly to the deceased individual.

C. A group may establish its cultural affiliation with Native American human remains and associated funerary objects by providing to the Trust documentation establishing by a preponderance of the evidence that the:

(1) Group is a Native American tribe;

(2) Deceased individual was a member of an earlier Native American group that:

(a) Was a population biologically distinct from other contemporaneous Native American groups; or

(b) Is identified in the historical record, or in the archeological record by specific cultural characteristics or distinct material culture manufacture patterns and distribution methods, as distinct from other contemporaneous Native American groups; and

(3) Group can reasonably trace a shared group identity between itself and the earlier Native American group, including establishing that the group has been identified from prehistoric or historic times to the present as descending from members of the earlier Native American group.

D. The documentation required under §C of this regulation may include historical, geographical, kinship, biological, archeological, anthropological, or linguistic information, folklore, oral history, tradition, or other relevant information or expert opinion.