[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 168 (Tuesday, August 29, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 52440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-21972]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items from Phillips 
County, KS in the Possession of the Kansas State Historical Society, 
Topeka, KS

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 Phillips County, KS in the possession of the Kansas 
State Historical Society, Topeka, KS that meet the definition of 
``unassociated funerary object'' under Section 2 of the Act.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 43 CFR 10.2 (c). The 
determinations within this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of these 
cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations within this notice.
    The 19 cultural items include 1 pottery vessel, 3 chipped stone 
projectile points, 1 bone tool, 1 shell pendant, 1 shell gorget, and 12 
disc shell beads.
    In 1944, these cultural items were donated to the Kansas Historical 
Society by Cecil Kingery of Phillipsburg, KS. Donor information 
indicates that these cultural items were recovered from ``an Indian 
grave'' exposed by roadwork two miles west and a half-mile south of 
Phillipsburg, Phillips County, KS.
    Recent oral history has identified this gravesite as site 14PH343, 
with the disturbance of the grave occurring in 1931. Based on ceramic 
analysis, site 14PH343 has been identified with the Upper Republican 
Aspect of the Central Plains Tradition, approximately A.D. 1250. Based 
on temporal position, geographic location, and continuities of material 
culture, the Upper Republican Aspect period has been identified as 
ancestral to the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma.
    Based on the above-mentioned information, officials of the Kansas 
State Historical Society have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 
(d)(2)(ii), these 19 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 Kansas 
State Historical Society also have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 
10.2 (e), there is a relationship of shared group identity that can be 
reasonably traced between these items and the Pawnee Nation of 
Oklahoma.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Pawnee Nation of 
Oklahoma. Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes 
itself to be culturally affiliated with these objects should contact 
Randall M. Thies, Archeologist, Kansas State Historical Society, 6425 
Southwest Sixth Avenue, Topeka, KS 66615-1099, telephone (785) 272-
8681, extension 267, before September 28, 2000. Repatriation of these 
objects to the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma may begin after that date if 
no additional claimants come forward.

    Dated: August 18, 2000.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships.
[FR Doc. 00-21972 Filed 8-28-00; 8:45 am]
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