[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 58 (Friday, March 26, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 14757]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-7501]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items from Webster 
County, NE, in the Possession of the University of Nebraska State 
Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE

AGENCY: National Park Service.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves Protection 
and Repatriation Act, 43 CFR 10.10 (a)(3), of the intent to repatriate 
cultural items from Webster County, NE, in the possession of the 
University of Nebraska State Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 
Lincoln, NE which meet the definition of ``unassociated funerary 
object'' under Section 2 of the Act.
    The eleven cultural items include fragments of a cradle board, 
glass beads, metal rings, and a wooden bowl.
    In 1930, these eleven cultural items were excavated from three 
burials at site 25WT1, Webster County, NE by the Nebraska Archeological 
Survey under the direction of A.T. Hill. The human remains are not in 
the collections of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
    Based on material culture and geographic location, site 25WT1 has 
been identified as a late-18th century Republican Band occupation. The 
Republican Band is one of the component bands of the present-day Pawnee 
Tribe of Oklahoma. Consultation with representatives of the Pawnee 
Tribe of Oklahoma has affirmed this affiliation.
    Based on the above mentioned information, officials of the 
University of Nebraska have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 
(d)(2)(ii), these eleven 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 from a specific 
burial site of an Native American individual. Officials of the 
University of Nebraska have also determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 
10.2 (e), there is a relationship of shared group identity which can be 
reasonably traced between these items and the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Pawnee Tribe of 
Oklahoma, the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, 
and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes. Representatives of any other 
Indian tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with 
these objects should contact Dr. Priscilla Grew, University of 
Nebraska, 302 Canfield Administration Building, Lincoln, NE 68588-0433; 
telephone: (402) 472-3123, before April 26, 1999. Repatriation of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to the Pawnee Tribe of 
Oklahoma may begin after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
    The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations 
within this notice.
Dated: March 17, 1999.
Veletta Canouts,
Acting Departmental Consulting Archeologist,
Deputy Manager, Archeology and Ethnography Program.
[FR Doc. 99-7501 Filed 3-25-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F