[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 212 (Thursday, November 2, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64558-64559]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-18483]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Southwest Museum of the American 
Indian, Autry National Center, Los Angeles, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains in the control of the 
Southwest Museum of the American Indian, Autry National Center, Los 
Angeles, CA. The human remains were removed from Ontario County, NY.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003 (d)(3). 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native 
American human remains. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by Southwest 
Museum professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Cayuga Nation of New York, Oneida Nation of New York, Oneida Tribe of 
Indians of Wisconsin, Onondaga Nation of New York, Seneca Nation of New 
York, Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, St. Regis Band of Mohawk Indians 
of New York, Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians of New York, and 
Tuscarora Nation of New York, as well as the Haudenosaunee Standing 
Committee on Burial Rights and Regulations, a non-federally recognized 
Indian group.
    In 1885, human remains representing a minimum of two individuals 
were removed from a grave near Canandaigua, Ontario County, NY. The 
museum has no additional information regarding the circumstances of 
removal. Mrs. Phyllis Lockley, mother of Robert Campbell Lockley, 
acquired the human remains as part of her son's estate. On January 18, 
1962, Mrs. Lockley signed the original Deed of Gift and transferred the 
human remains to the museum, which accessioned the human remains

[[Page 64559]]

into its collection the same year. No known individuals were 
identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    On the original Deed of Gift, the credit line identifies all 
objects donated by Mrs. Lockley as ``materials collected by Mrs. Hope 
Gans Lockley, 1885.'' However, in a letter written after the Deed of 
Gift, Mrs. Lockley asks the museum to correct the deed to attribute 
only one donated item to Mrs. Hope Gans Lockley as ``all of the other 
items were from the estate of (her) son, Robert Campbell Lockley.'' The 
museum responded to this request on February 9, 1962, to assure her 
that the required change in the last line of the deed would be 
executed. It is unclear why this correction was not made before Mrs. 
Lockley signed the final document.
    Museum records and physical anthropological assessment have 
determined the human remains to be of probable Native American descent. 
Archeological and historical evidence indicate that the Owasco culture 
occupied central and eastern New York and the Glaciated Alleghany 
Plateau during the Woodland Stage (1000 B.C.-A.D. 1600). Around A.D. 
1600, the Owasco culture underwent a cultural transition. Between A.D. 
1450 and 1600, diagnostic characteristics indicative of the Seneca 
culture begin to become evident in the archeological record. From the 
early 16th century until the American Revolution, the Seneca occupied a 
region between the Genesee River and Canandaigua Lake, which includes 
Livingstone and Ontario Counties, NY, as well as the southern portion 
of Monroe County, NY. A cultural connection can be reasonably traced 
from the Owasco people to the present-day Seneca Nation of New York, 
Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, and Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians 
of New York.
    Officials of the Southwest Museum have determined that, pursuant to 
25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains described above represent the 
physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry. 
Officials of the Southwest Museum also have determined that, pursuant 
to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is a relationship of shared group identity 
that can be reasonably traced between the Native American human remains 
and the Seneca Nation of New York, Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, and 
Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians of New York.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Dr. 
Duane H. King, Executive Director, or Jamie Hebert, NAGPRA Research 
Associate for Collections, Southwest Museum of the American Indian, 
Autry National Center, 234 Museum Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90065, 
telephone (323) 221-2164, before December 4, 2006. Repatriation of the 
human remains to the Seneca Nation of New York, Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of 
Oklahoma, and Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians of New York may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    Southwest Musuem is responsible for notifying the Cayuga Nation of 
New York, Oneida Nation of New York, Oneida Tribe of Indians of 
Wisconsin, Onondaga Nation of New York, Seneca Nation of New York, 
Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, St. Regis Band of Mohawk Indians of 
New York, Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians of New York, and Tuscarora 
Nation of New York, as well as the Haudenosaunee Standing Committee on 
Burial Rights and Regulations, a non-federally recognized Indian group, 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 28, 2006
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E6-18483 Filed 11-1-06; 8:45 am]
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