[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 82 (Thursday, April 27, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24714-24715]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-10533]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items in the Possession 
of the South Dakota State Archaeological Research Center, Rapid City, 
SD

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

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 in the possession of the South Dakota State 
Archaeological Research Center, Rapid City, SD which meet the 
definition of ``unassociated funerary object'' under Section 2 of the 
Act.
    The 107 cultural items consist of two pipes, three stones, a large 
metal ring, five lots of beads, 31 buttons, 11 wristlets, two bear 
tooth pendants, an elk tooth pendant, two pairs of earrings, a watch 
fob, a ball and chain ornament, two armbands, a metal disc with scarf, 
a bullet mold, a powder flask, a percussion cap box, two metal knives, 
a pistol cleaning rod, a fishhook, a strike-a-light, four spoons, a 
hand-mirror with case, seven bells, a pair of scissors, two bone tubes, 
an ivory gaming chip, a stoneware ink bottle, a nail, a metal fragment, 
six leather fragments, three wood fragments, six textile fragments, a 
fur fragment, and a gunstock club.
    Between 1923-1941, these cultural items were removed with human 
remains representing nine individuals from burials at the Vermillion 
Bluff

[[Page 24715]]

Village (39CL1) by workmen during home construction activities. These 
human remains and objects were donated to the W.H. Over Museum, 
Vermillion, SD. In 1974, these human remains and objects were 
transferred to the South Dakota State Archaeological Research Center. 
In 1982, the human remains were repatriated to Frank Fools Crow, Oglala 
Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge Reservation, SD.
    Based on oral tradition, archeological evidence, historical 
accounts, and geographic location, the burials at the Vermillion Bluff 
Village have been identified as Yankton dating to the historic period 
(post-AD 1800).
    The 65 cultural items consist of a shell hairpipe, ten lots of 
beads, seven bells, four wristlets, an armband, four bear claws, an elk 
tooth, a roach spreader, an earring, a pair of brass tubes and 
tinklers, two tack necklaces and tack, a dance mirror, two files, two 
strike-a-lights, two fishhooks, an antler powder measure, a flintlock 
gun, a metal knife, a metal projectile point, a stone biface, a pair of 
sandstone abraders, a pair of scissors, a thimble, a catlinite pipe and 
stem, a catlinite tobacco tamper, a horse bit, a plate glass item, two 
wood fragments, two leather fragments, and eight metal fragments.
    In 1917, these cultural items and human remains representing one 
individual were excavated from site 39CL6 by the private landowner, 
A.A. Norgren, on his farm near Centerville, SD. These human remains and 
objects were donated to the W.H. Over Museum in Vermillion, SD. In 
1974, these human remains and objects were transferred to the South 
Dakota State Archaeological Research Center. In 1982, the human remains 
were repatriated to Frank Fools Crow, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge 
Reservation, SD.
    Based on oral tradition, archeological evidence, historical 
accounts, and geographic location, the burials at the Vermillion Bluff 
Village have been identified as Yankton dating to the historic period 
(post-AD 1800).
    Based on the above mentioned information, officials of the South 
Dakota State Archaeological Research Center have determined that, 
pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2(d)(2)(ii), these 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 a Native American individual. Officials 
of the South Dakota State Archaeological Research Center 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 Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Yankton Sioux Tribe 
of South Dakota, and the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek 
Reservation, South Dakota. Representatives of any other Indian tribe 
that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with these objects 
should contact Renee Boen, Curator, State Archaeological Center, South 
Dakota Historical Society, P.O. Box 1257, Rapid City, SD 57709-1257; 
telephone: (605) 394-1936 before May 30, 2000. Repatriation of these 
objects to the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota may begin after that 
date if no additional claimants come forward.

    Dated: April 21, 2000.
Veletta Canouts,
Acting Departmental Consulting Archeologist, Deputy Manager, Archeology 
and Ethnography Program.
[FR Doc. 00-10533 Filed 4-26-00; 8:45 am]
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