Though Narragansett tribe members are pressuring the museum to quicken the process of identification, Watson said that the museum has done all it can to identify the remains.

The museum, like the Narragansett tribe, is now "waiting for the Department of the Interior to create regulations" regarding this issue, Watson said.

This is not the first such dispute for the Peabody Museum. Even before Congress passed NAGPRA, the museum had begun repatriating sacred objects to American Indian tribes.

The museum returned a collection to the Pecos Indians in New Mexico last year in compliance with NAGPRA.

Barbara Isaac, assistant director of the Peabody, told the Associated Press the museum has spent $7 million on repatriation issues so far. Last year, the museum's repatriation staff was expanded from four to 20.

"Peabody has an enormous amount of remains, sacred objects that are covered by federal legislation," Ryan said.

The museum has been collecting archaeological remains for more than 125 years, however, and many items cannot be specifically linked to a tribe or location.

The museum obtained most of its artifacts through excavation. Though many remains have never been researched, others have been used "to collect important information about diet, osteoporosis, and arthritis," Watson said.