New Mexico Statutes Chapter 18. Libraries, Museums, and Cultural Properties § 18-6-25. Definitions

A. “department” means the cultural affairs department;

B. “descendant group” means persons demonstrably related to the remains by consanguinity, family affiliation, clan or direct historical association and includes a Native American nation, band, tribe or pueblo in New Mexico;

C. “funerary object” means an object or artifact associated with a human burial;

D. “reburial grounds” means state or federal land set aside pursuant to the Reburial Grounds Act that secures and preserves unmarked graves for remains not claimed by a descendant group;

E. “remains” means a human body, skeletal remains or mummified remains discovered during construction and other projects or exposed through erosion, excavation or accident or other means on state, federal and private lands and includes a funerary object or artifact associated with the remains; and

F. “state land” means property owned, controlled or operated by a department, agency, institution or political subdivision of the state.