[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 169 (Friday, August 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50990-50991]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-20089]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of 
the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Buffalo Field Office, Buffalo, 
WY

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. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate cultural items in the possession of the U.S. Department 
of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Buffalo Field Office, 
Buffalo, WY, that meet the definition of ``unassociated funerary 
objects'' under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 
Federal agency that has control of the cultural items. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
    In 1986, human remains and cultural items were removed from a site 
adjacent to the location of the Dull Knife Battle, Johnson County, WY. 
The Bureau of Land Management, Buffalo Field Office, was required to 
analyze potential impacts from a proposed Federal action pursuant to 
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act on a known burial 
site located on Bureau of Land Management public lands. The burial is 
adjacent to the location of the Dull Knife Battle of November 1876 
between the U.S. Cavalry and a camp of Northern Cheyenne. The close 
proximity of the burial to the battle ground suggests a direct 
association. On June 29, 1987, the interment was removed and analyzed 
in the field. Osteological analysis showed that the human remains were 
of an adult female of Native American descent. The human remains and 
associated sediments were replaced into the original location. However, 
15 funerary objects were removed for analysis, and subsequently stored 
in the Buffalo Field Office. The 15 funerary objects are 1 brown wool 
fabric fragment (appears to be from the late 19th century); 2 brown 
wool fragments from a horse blanket (appears to be from the 19th 
century); 7 blue wool fragments (appears to be from an 1876-era U.S. 
Army blanket); 1 red and white striped cotton fabric fragment; 2 tanned 
leather fragments; 1 fragment of rawhide or un-tanned leather; and 1 
wood fragment.
    A detailed assessment of the funerary objects was made by the 
Bureau of Land

[[Page 50991]]

Management, Buffalo Field Office staff in consultation with the 
Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, 
Montana. Based on the close proximity of the burial to the Dull Knife 
Battle of 1876, historical evidence that the Northern Cheyenne were 
party to this battle, and that the funerary objects are likely 
contemporaneous with this battle, the officials of the Bureau of Land 
Management have reasonably determined that the burial and the funerary 
objects belong to a Northern Cheyenne participant in this battle. 
Descendants of the Northern Cheyenne are members of the Northern 
Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana.
    Officials of the Bureau of Land Management have determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the 15 cultural items described 
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 a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual. Officials of the Bureau of Land Management 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 unassociated funerary objects and the Northern Cheyenne 
Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Chris Hanson, Bureau of Land Management, Buffalo Field Office, 
1425 Fort Street, Buffalo, WY 82834, telephone (307) 684-1141, before 
September 29, 2008. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary objects 
to the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian 
Reservation, Montana may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    The Bureau of Land Management is responsible for notifying the 
Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, 
Montana that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 5, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-20089 Filed 8-28-08; 8:45 am]
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