As used in this article, the term:

(1) "American Indian" means an individual who is a member of a nation, tribe, band, group, or community that was indigenous to Georgia; is a descendant of persons named as American Indians in the Georgia Senate Bill 89, enacted during the legislative session of 1839 (Ga. L. 1839, p. 374); or is a descendant of persons included in the United States Indian Claims Commission, Docket 21, 1962, and those sequel dockets pertaining to the Creek Nation east of the Mississippi.

(2) "Burial object" means an object that, as a part of the death rite or ceremony of a culture, is reasonably believed to have been placed with individual human remains either at the time of death or later. Such term includes any item defined in paragraph (4) of Code Section 36-72-2 and may also include but not be limited to urns; whole or broken ceramic, metal, or glass vessels; chipped stone tools; ground stone tools; worked bone and shell items; clothing; medals; buttons; jewelry; firearms; edged weapons; and the caskets or containers for the human remains.

(3) "Council" means the Council on American Indian Concerns established by Code Section 44-12-280.

(4) "Human remains" means the bodies of deceased human beings in any stage of decomposition, including cremated remains.

(5) "Object of cultural patrimony" means an object having ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to a group or culture itself, rather than property owned by an individual, and which, therefore, cannot be alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by any individual regardless of whether or not the individual is a member of a tribe or an organization.

(6) "Sacred object" means a specific ceremonial object which is used by a religious leader for the practice of a religion by the present day adherents of such religion.