[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 9, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51460-51461]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-25156]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items in the Possession 
of the Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, NE

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), 43CFR 10.10 
(a)(3), of the intent to repatriate cultural items in the possession of 
the Nebraska State Historical Society, Lincoln, NE, that meet the 
definition of ``unassociated funerary objects'' 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 731 cultural items are 656 shell wampum beads and 75 glass 
beads.
    In 1924, a collection containing 656 shell wampum beads and 75 
glass beads labeled ``Leary Site Burials'' was donated to the Nebraska 
State Historical Society. In 2000 and 2001, the cultural items were 
located in the collections of the Nebraska State Historical Society, 
where they had been either previously missing or mislabeled. The 
cultural items derive from the Leary site (25RH1), a village and 
cemetery complex that is associated with the Oneota culture on the 
basis of oral tradition, archeological investigations, ethnohistory, 
and physical anthropology. The present-day representatives of the 
Oneota culture are the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska;

[[Page 51461]]

Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma; Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma; and 
Kaw Nation of Oklahoma.
    Nebraska State Historical Society conducted excavations at the 
Leary village and cemetery complex in 1936 and 1965, and recovered 
human remains and associated funerary objects. Thirty individuals and 
301 associated funerary objects recovered by Nebraska State Historical 
Society at the Leary site were reported in a Notice of Inventory 
Completion published in the Federal Register on September 18, 1997, and 
were repatriated to the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska; Iowa Tribe 
of Oklahoma; Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma; and Kaw Nation 
of Oklahoma. The museum does not have evidence that there is an 
association between the 731 cultural items that are reported in this 
notice and the human remains from the burials that were excavated by 
the Nebraska State Historical Society in 1936 and 1965.
    Based on the above-mentioned information, officials of the Nebraska 
State Historical Society have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 
(d)(2), the 731 cultural items listed above 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 specific 
burial sites of Native American individuals. Officials of the Nebraska 
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 unassociated funerary objects and the 
Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska; Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma; Otoe-
Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma; and Kaw Nation of Oklahoma.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas 
and Nebraska; Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma; Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, 
Oklahoma; and Kaw Nation of Oklahoma. Representatives of any other 
Indian tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with 
these 731 unassociated funerary objects should contact Rob Bozell, 
Associate Director, Nebraska State Historical Society, 1500 R Street, 
P.O. Box 82554, Lincoln, NE 68501-2554, telephone (402) 471-4789, 
before November 8, 2001. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary 
objects to the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska; Iowa Tribe of 
Oklahoma; Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma; and Kaw Nation of 
Oklahoma may begin after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.

    Dated: August 8, 2001.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships.
[FR Doc. 01-25156 Filed 10-5-01; 8:45 am]
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