[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 175 (Monday, September 11, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47180-47181]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-22375]



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[[Page 47181]]


DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion of Native American Human Remains 
in the Possession of the Utah Field House of Natural History State 
Park, Vernal, UT

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior

ACTION: Notice

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    Notice is hereby given in accordance with provisions of the Native 
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d), of 
the completion of an inventory of human remains in the possession of 
the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park, Vernal UT.
    In May, 1953, a Ms. Wadel (or Wadell) donated a single cranium to 
the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park. Writing on the 
occipital vault reads: ``skull of Sioux Chief Gall. Age 99 years and 7 
months. Died 1879 at Poplar, Montana, then the Ft. Peck Military Post. 
He surrendered to General Miles.''
    A detailed inventory and assessment of this human cranium has been 
made by Utah Field House professional curatorial staff and specialists 
in physical anthropology, forensic anthropology, and prehistoric 
archaeology in consultation with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal 
Council. Osteometric and forensic analyses by Dr. George Gill and Dr. 
Michael Charney established that the cranium is siouan in 
configuration. Many of the details written on the skull are at variance 
with generally acknowledged dates and locations of Chief Gall's life. 
However, a photographic superimposition of the skull with known 
photographs of Hunkpapa Chief Gall reveals a striking similarity in 
form.
    Contact with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council and the family 
of Gall's descendants was initiated in June 1991. On October 4, 1991, a 
grave located in the St. Elizabeth Episcopal Cemetery, on the Standing 
Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation and said to be the burial site of Chief 
Gall was exhumed. Family members, a mortician, a doctor, and the South 
Dakota State Anthropologist, witnessed the excavation. The grave 
appeared to have not been previously disturbed. A shattered cranium in 
the grave yielded no corroborating measurements. The lineal descendants 
of Chief Gall are satisfied that the remains in the grave are of their 
ancestor.
    The Standing Rock Tribal Council acknowledges the lineal 
descendants decision on the identity of the cranium. Following the 
decision by Gall's lineal decendants, broader consultation was 
initiated with the Fort Belknap Community Council, the Prairie Island 
Community Council, the Shakopee Sioux Community Council, the Upper 
Sioux Board of Trustees, the Lower Sioux Indian Community Council, the 
Flandreau Santee Sioux Executive Committee, the Santee Sioux Tribal 
Council, the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribal Council, the Lower Brule 
Sioux Tribal Council, the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council, the Cheyenne 
River Sioux Tribal Council, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Devils Lake 
Sioux Tribe, the Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board, the Crow Creek Sioux 
Tribal Council, and the Yankton Sioux Tribal Business and Claims.
    Based on the above mentioned information, officials of the Utah 
Field House of Natural History State Park have determined pursuant to 
25 U.S.C. (2) that there is a relationship of shared group identity 
which can be reasonably traced between this cranium and the Standing 
Rock Tribe.
    This notice has been sent to lineal descendants of Chief Gall and 
to officials of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Council, the Fort 
Belknap Community Council, the Prairie Island Community Council, the 
Shakopee Sioux Community Council, the Upper Sioux Board of Trustees, 
the Lower Sioux Indian Community Council, the Flandreau Santee Sioux 
Executive Committee, the Santee Sioux Tribal Council, the Sisseton-
Wahpeton Sioux Tribal Council, the Lower Brule Sioux Tribal Council, 
the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal 
Council, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, the Devils Lake Sioux Tribe, the Fort 
Peck Tribal Executive Board, the Crow Creek Sioux Tribal Council, and 
the Yankton Sioux Tribal Business and Claims Committee. Individuals or 
representatives of any other indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with these human remains should contact Dr. Sue 
Ann Bilbey, Curator, Utah Field House of Natural History State Park, 
235 East Main, Vernal UT 84078, telephone (801)789-3799 on or before 
[thirty days after publication of this notice in the Federal Register]. 
Repatriation of the cranium to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe may begin 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
Dated: September 1, 1995
Francis P. McManamon
Departmental Consulting Archeologist
Chief, Archeological Assistance Division
[FR Doc. 95-22375; Filed 9-8-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F