[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 9, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51475-51476]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-25158]


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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 Possession of the University of 
Denver Department of Anthropology and Museum of Anthropology, Denver, 
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 remains and associated 
funerary objects in the possession of the University of Denver 
Department of Anthropology and Museum of Anthropology, Denver, 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

[[Page 51476]]

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 University 
of Denver Department of Anthropology and Museum of Anthropology 
professional staff and a contract physical anthropologist in 
consultation with the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of the 
Army, Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District; U.S. Department of the 
Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs; and representatives of the Crow 
Creek Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota; Pawnee 
Nation of Oklahoma; and Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold 
Reservation, North Dakota.
    At an unknown date, human remains representing one individual were 
recovered from an unknown location either on the Crow Creek 
Reservation, Buffalo County, SD, or near Mitchell, Davison County, SD. 
Dr. E.B. Renaud, founder of the University of Denver Department of 
Anthropology, most likely obtained these remains from an unknown South 
Dakota resident and brought them to the university for study. The 
remains were never cited in his reports and were not formally 
accessioned into the museum collection. No known individual was 
identified. The 107 associated funerary objects are 92 sherds (56 
plain, 2 marked, and 34 incised, stamped, or cord-marked), 1 ceramic 
tube fragment, 1 projectile point, 10 chipped stone flakes, and 3 shell 
fragments.
    Two handwritten notes accompany the remains. One says ``Fortified 
Indian Village Prehistoric Pawnee Strong(?) near Mitchell South 
Dakota(?).'' The other note says ``Fortified Prehistoric Indian 
Village, Prehistoric Pawnee Strong(?) Crow Creek (Crow Reservation) 
North of Chamberlain, S. Dakota.'' Both the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determined that there is no 
evidence that either Federal agency has control over these human 
remains and associated funerary objects.
    The territory surrounding the Missouri River in southeastern South 
Dakota has been identified as the ancestral territory of the Three 
Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara) and the Pawnee. The 
notes that accompany the remains, associated funerary objects, and 
consultation evidence also indicate a cultural affiliation between 
these human remains and associated funerary objects and the Three 
Affiliated Tribes and Pawnee.
    Roger Echo-Hawk, a Pawnee historian, provided oral testimony 
confirming the cultural affiliation between the Arikara and Pawnee. 
Both tribes speak Caddoan languages, whose cultural roots are traced to 
the prehistoric mound-building societies of the lower Mississippi River 
valley. The Arikara were culturally related to the Pawnee, from whom 
they broke away and moved gradually northward along the Missouri River 
between the Cheyenne River in South Dakota and Fort Berthold in North 
Dakota, becoming the northernmost Caddoan tribe.
    Archeologists have attributed a number of village sites near Crow 
Creek to the Arikara and Mandan, and a large well-known village near 
Mitchell is a attributed to the Mandan. There are at least two Arikara 
archeological sites in the area mentioned in the notes that accompany 
the remains, the Crow Creek site (39BF11), a fortified village, and the 
Mitchell site (39DV2), a village with outer fortification ditches and 
lodges.
    Based on the above-mentioned information, officials of the 
University of Denver Department of Anthropology and Museum of 
Anthropology 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 University of 
Denver Department of Anthropology and Museum of Anthropology also have 
determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d)(2), the 107 objects 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. Lastly, officials of the University of Denver 
Department of Anthropology and Museum of Anthropology 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 Native 
American human remains and associated funerary objects and the Pawnee 
Nation of Oklahoma, and Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold 
Reservation, North Dakota.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Crow Creek Sioux 
Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota; Pawnee Nation of 
Oklahoma; Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, 
North Dakota; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District; and Bureau 
of Indian Affairs. Representatives of any other Indian tribe that 
believes itself to be culturally affiliated with these human remains 
and associated funerary objects should contact Jan I. Bernstein, 
Collections Manager and NAGPRA Coordinator, University of Denver 
Department of Anthropology and Museum of Anthropology, 2000 Asbury, 
Sturm Hall S-146, Denver, CO 80208-2406, e-mail [email protected], 
telephone (303) 871-2543, before November 8, 2001. Repatriation of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to the Pawnee Nation of 
Oklahoma, and Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, 
North Dakota may begin after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.

    Dated: August 15, 2001.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships.
[FR Doc. 01-25158 Filed 10-5-01; 8:45 am]
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