[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 68 (Monday, April 9, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18505-18506]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-8680]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion for Native American Human Remains 
and Associated Funerary Objects in the Control of the U.S. Department 
of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Eastern Colorado Area Office, 
Loveland, CO

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 (NAGPRA), 43 CFR 10.9, 
of the completion of an inventory of human

[[Page 18506]]

remains and associated funerary objects in the control of the U.S. 
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Eastern Colorado 
Area Office, Loveland, CO.
    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 Native 
American human remains and associated funerary objects. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations within this 
notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by Bureau of 
Reclamation, Eastern Colorado Area Office professional staff in 
consultation with representatives of the Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind 
River Reservation, Wyoming; Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; and 
the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian 
Reservation, Montana.
    In December 2000, the Bureau of Reclamation, Eastern Colorado Area 
Office presented a disposition proposal to the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Review Committee to repatriate culturally 
unidentifiable human remains in its control to the Arapahoe Tribe of 
the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of 
Oklahoma; and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne 
Indian Reservation, Montana. On Januray 23, 2001, the Assistant 
Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships, writing on 
behalf of the Secretary of the Interior, informed the Bureau of 
Reclamation that the review committee concurred with the disposition 
proposal at the review committee's December 2000 meeting. The letter 
confirmed that concurrence.
    In 1982, during a cultural resources compliance survey of lands 
managed by Bureau of Reclamation, four bone fragments representing the 
human remains of one individual were recovered from the surface of 
archeological site 5LR42 near Dam #1 at Carter Lake, CO. In 1992, a 
human burial was inadvertently discovered eroding from the hillside 
near the same location. After consultation with potentially affiliated 
tribes, intentional excavations were undertaken by Native Cultural 
Services of Boulder, CO, under contract to the Bureau of Reclamation. 
The human remains from that burial were evaluated by professional 
physical anthropologist Robert J. Mutaw, who determined that they 
represented one individual.
    Both sets of human remains were curated originally at the 
Anthropology Museum, University of Colorado in Boulder, CO. In 1998, 
they were transferred to the National Park Service's Rocky Mountain 
National Park in 1998, and in January 2001, the human remains from both 
the 1982 and 1992 discoveries were returned to the Anthropology Museum, 
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, to be held until repatriation or 
disposition occurs. For the human remains recovered in 1982, which are 
the subject of this Notice of Inventory Completion, no known individual 
was identified and no associated funerary objects are present. The 
human remains recovered in 1992 are the subject of a separate Notice of 
Disposition.
    Examination of the skeletal elements recovered from the site in 
1982 and 1992 indicates that the human remains recovered at the two 
different times are from the same individual. Evaluation of 
archeological evidence and ethnographic burial practices indicates that 
the human remains are those of a Native American of prehistoric age. 
The site was occupied or used during the Middle Archaic period and 
again during the Late Archaic/Early Ceramic period; no historic 
materials were recovered. Because there were no associated funerary 
objects, it is not possible to determine at what date during the 
prehistoric period the individual was buried.
    Based on the above-mentioned information, officials of the Bureau 
of Reclamation have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d) (1), 
the human remains listed above represent the physical remains of one 
individual of Native American ancestry. Officials of the Bureau of 
Reclamation also have determined that there is no relationship of 
shared group identity that can reasonably be traced between these human 
remains and any present-day Indian tribe or group. In accordance with 
the recommendation of the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Review Committee, the disposition of these remains will be 
to the following tribes with aboriginal ties to the area in which the 
remains were recovered: the Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River 
Reservation, Wyoming; Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; and the 
Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, 
Montana.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Arapahoe Tribe of the 
Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; 
Comanche Indian Tribe, Oklahoma; Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River 
Reservation, Wyoming; Jicarilla Apache Tribe of the Jicarilla Apache 
Indian Reservation, New Mexico; the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the 
Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana; Southern Ute Indian 
Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado; and the Ute Mountain 
Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah. 
Representatives of any other tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with these human remains should contact Will 
Tully, Environmental Specialist, Bureau of Reclamation, Eastern 
Colorado Area Office, 11056 West County Road 18 E, Loveland, CO 80537, 
telephone (970) 962-4368, before May 9, 2001. Repatriation of these 
human remains to the Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, 
Wyoming; Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; and the Northern Cheyenne 
Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana may begin 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.

    Dated: March 21, 2001.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships.
[FR Doc. 01-8680 Filed 4-6-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F