[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 133 (Thursday, July 11, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45997-45998]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-17426]


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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 Metropolitan 
Park District of the Toledo Area, Toledo, OH

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 Metropolitan Park District of 
the Toledo Area, Toledo, OH.
    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 the 
Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area professional staff in 
consultation with the Lucas County Coroner's Office, the Center for 
Historic and Military Archaeology at Heidelberg College, and 
representatives of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians 
of Michigan, Little River Band Ottawa Indians of Michigan, Little 
Traverse Band of Odawa Indians of Michigan, and Ottawa Tribe of 
Oklahoma. The Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area also 
consulted with representatives of the American Indian Intertribal 
Association, a nonfederally recognized Indian group.
    In 1999, human remains representing two individuals were found by 
an unknown person at a site on Audubon Islands State Nature Preserve, 
Lucas County, OH. The site was investigated by the Lucas County 
Coroner's Office. No known individuals were identified. The 1,590 
associated funerary objects are 1,484 glass seed beads, 2 iron tomahawk 
heads, 1 barbed iron rod (possibly a fishing spear), 68 fragments of 
spalled iron rust, 1 iron knife, 2 iron nails, 1 iron folding knife 
with bone handle, 1 pair of iron scissors, 1 copper broach, 3 copper 
rings, 3 brass tinkling cones, 3 lead musket balls, 18 whole or 
fragmentary flint flakes, 1 vermillion

[[Page 45998]]

clay lump, and 1 ceramic sherd with cord-roughed design.
    The Lucas County Coroner's Office identified the human remains as 
Native American based on the presence of marked shoveling of the 
incisors and flattening of the proximal femur shaft. The associated 
funerary objects indicate that these human remains were probably buried 
around the A.D. 1790-1810 period.
    Audubon Island is located in the lower Maumee Valley in northern 
Ohio. Some Ottawa bands had taken up residence in the lower Maumee 
Valley by A.D. 1740-1750. Following Pontiac's siege of Detroit in the 
summer of 1763, some of the Ottawa bands from that area resettled to 
the lower Maumee Valley. In 1764, Captain Thomas Morris met an Ottawa 
delegation at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, adjacent to Audubon 
Island. Between 1783 and 1794, Audubon Island was known as ACol. 
McKee's Island,@ and was farmed as part of Alexander McKee's Department 
of Indian Affairs post at the foot of the Maumee Rapids. Several other 
Euro-Canadian traders occupied lands in the area, presumably with the 
consent of the local Ottawa.
     In 1795, many of the Great Lakes-Ohio Valley tribes signed the 
Treaty of Greenville, which produced several land cessions, including a 
12-square-mile reserve surrounding the foot of the Maumee Rapids and 
Audubon Island. Occupation of Audubon Island by the Ohio Ottawa appears 
to have ceased at that time, at which point some of them moved to 
Walpole Island, Canada.
    Between 1807 and 1817, the United States established four small 
reservations for the Ottawa along the lower Maumee River. Audubon 
Island lies between two of these reservations. The four reservations 
were finally ceded to the United States in 1831-1833 in return for 
lands in present Franklin County, KS. In 1867, the Kansas reservation 
organization was dissolved and the Ottawa sold their individual 
allotments and moved to Oklahoma.
    Based on the above-mentioned information, officials of the 
Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area have determined that, 
pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d)(1), the human remains listed above 
represent the physical remains of two individuals of Native American 
ancestry. Officials of the Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo 
Area also have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d)(2), the 
1,590 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 
Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area 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 Ottawa Tribe of 
Oklahoma.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Grand Traverse Band 
of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians of Michigan, Little River Band Ottawa 
Indians of Michigan, Little Traverse Band of Odawa Indians of Michigan, 
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, American Indian Intertribal Association, and 
Walpole Island First Nation. Representatives of any other Indian tribe 
that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with these human 
remains and associated funerary objectsshould contact Gary Horn, 
Associate Director, Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area, 5100 
West Central Avenue, Toledo, OH 43615-2100, telephone (419) 535-3050, 
before August 12, 2002. Repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects to the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma may begin 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.

    Dated: April 23, 2002
Robert Stearns,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 02-17426 Filed 7-10-02; 8:45 am]
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