[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 143 (Wednesday, July 24, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38471-38472]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-18607]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items in the Possession 
of the Nevada Test Site, Nevada Operations Office, Department of 
Energy, Las Vegas, NV

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves Protection 
and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3005 (a)(2), of the intent to 
repatriate cultural items in the possession of the Nevada Test Site, 
Nevada Operations Office, Department of Energy which meets the 
definition of ``sacred object'' and ``unassociated funerary object'' 
under Section 2 of the Act.
    Between 1977-1990, twelve items were recovered from site 26NY4015 
in the Nevada Test Site during a legally authorized survey. The items 
consist of ceramics, groundstones, glass beads, bifaces, tin strips, 
glass buttons, a pipe fragment, pendants, a stone drill, and one piece 
of incised stone. These items were recovered in the same vicinity where 
Native American human remains had previously been recovered. 
Consultation evidence indicates these items are consistent with 
funerary objects typically included with Western Shoshone and Paiute 
burials and are believed to have come from the same burial site.
    Also between 1977 and 1990, 22 items were recovered from six 
archeological sites during legally authorized excavations within the 
Nevada Test Site. The 22 items include glass beads, stone pendent 
fragements, projectile points, a metal awl, and one stone shaft 
straightener. Consultation evidence and oral tradition presented by 
tribal representatives and traditional religious leaders indicate these 
objects are specific ceremonial objects within Western Shoshone and 
Paiute traditions and are needed by Native American religious leaders 
for the practice of traditional Native American religions by their 
present-day adherents.
    Based on the above-mentioned information, Department of Energy 
officials have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(C), these 
22 cultural items are specific ceremonial objects needed by traditional 
Native American religious leaders for the practice of traditional 
Native American religions by their present-day adherents. Officials of 
the Department of Energy have also determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), these twelve cultural items are reasonably believed 
to have been placed with or near individual human remains at the time 
of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony and are 
believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed form 
a specific burial site of an Native American individual. Finally, 
Department of Energy officials have further determined that, pursuant 
to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of shared group identity 
which can be reasonably traced between these items and the Benton 
Paiute Tribe, Big Pine Paiute Tribe, Bishop Paiute Tribe, the 
Chemehuevi Paiute Tribe, the Colorado River Indian Tribes, the 
Duckwater Shoshone Tribe, the Ely Shoshone Tribe, the Fort Independence 
Indian Community of Paiute Indians, the Lone Pine Paiute Tribe, the Las 
Vegas Paiute Tribe, the Kaibab Paiute Tribe, the Moapa Band of Paiutes, 
the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, and the 
Yomba Shoshone Tribe.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Benton Paiute Tribe, 
Big Pine Paiute Tribe, Bishop Paiute Tribe, the Chemehuevi Paiute 
Tribe, the Colorado River Indian Tribes, the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe, 
the Ely Shoshone Tribe, the Fort Independence Indian Community of 
Paiute Indians, the Lone Pine Paiute Tribe, the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, 
the Kaibab Paiute Tribe, the Moapa Band of Paiutes, the Paiute Indian 
Tribe of Utah, the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, and the Yomba Shoshone 
Tribe; and the Pahrump Paiute Tribe, the Las Vegas Indian Center, and 
Owens Valley Board of Trustees, three Native American groups. 
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with these objects should contact Robert C. 
Furlow, NAGPRA Program Manager, DOE Nevada Operations Office, P.O. Box 
98518, Las Vegas, NV 89193-8518, telephone (702) 295-0845, fax (702) 
295-1455 before August 23, 1996. Repatriation of these objects to the 
Benton Paiute Tribe, Big Pine Paiute Tribe, Bishop Paiute Tribe, the 
Chemehuevi Paiute Tribe, the Colorado River Indian Tribes, the 
Duckwater Shoshone Tribe, the Ely Shoshone Tribe, the Fort Independence 
Indian Community of Paiute Indians, the Lone Pine Paiute Tribe, the Las 
Vegas Paiute Tribe, the Kaibab Paiute Tribe, the Moapa Band of Paiutes, 
the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, and the 
Yomba Shoshone Tribe may begin after

[[Page 38472]]

that date if no additional claimants come forward.

    Dated: July 16, 1996.
Francis P. McManamon,
Departmental Consulting Archeologist, Chief, Archeology & Ethnongraphy 
Program.
[FR Doc. 96-18607 Filed 7-23-96; 8:45 am]
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