[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 169 (Friday, August 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 50997]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-20090]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Wyoming, 
Anthropology Department, Human Remains Repository, Laramie, 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. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary 
objects in the possession and control of the University of Wyoming 
Anthropology Department Human Remains Repository in Laramie, WY. The 
human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Goshen 
County, WY.
    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 and associated funerary objects. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by University 
of Wyoming Anthropology Department Human Remains Repository 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Rosebud 
Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota.
    In 1977, human remains representing a minimum of two individuals 
were removed from near the old Bordeaux Trading Post in Goshen County, 
WY, by personnel from Fort Laramie, Goshen County Sheriff's Office, and 
Goshen County Coroner, after the burial location had been disturbed by 
earth leveling activities associated with farming. No known individuals 
were identified. The four associated funerary objects are one set of 
glass trade beads, one brass button, one set of cloth fragments, and 
one set of wooden coffin fragments.
    The remains are a partial skeleton of a female of probable mixed 
Native American/Euroamerican parentage. Some features on the cranium 
and mandible suggest that the individual has both Euroamerican and 
Native American aspects in her parentage. The cranial cap is partially 
mummified and a stripe of red ocher or vermillion had been painted down 
the center of the top of the head, approximately at the part of the 
hair. The woman was apparently pregnant or had just delivered a child 
at the time of her death. The child interred with her is also likely of 
mixed parentage and was likely a newborn infant.
    Historic background research and ethnographic inquiries indicates 
that the human remains are most likely related to the Sioux groups that 
were known to have intermarried with the Bordeaux family and their 
employees at the old Bordeaux Trading Post a few miles below Fort 
Laramie near the North Platte River. The Bordeaux name is still carried 
by members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and tribal representatives 
identified specific bands of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe that had married 
Bordeaux Trading Post employees. Tribal evidence presented for cultural 
affiliation is based on review of records afforded to the tribe, 
contact with the Bordeaux family, and review of the information from 
the Human Remains Repository.
    Officials of the University of Wyoming, Anthropology Department, 
Human Remains Repository 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 University of Wyoming, Anthropology Department, Human Remains 
Repository also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 
(3)(A), the four objects 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. Lastly, officials 
of the University of Wyoming, Anthropology Department, Human Remains 
Repository 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 associated 
funerary objects and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian 
Reservation, South Dakota.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Rick L. Weathermon, NAGPRA Contact at the 
University of Wyoming Department 3431, Anthropology, 1000 E. University 
Ave., Laramie, WY 82071, telephone (307) 766-5136, before September 29, 
2008. Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South 
Dakota may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
    University of Wyoming Anthropology Department Human Remains 
Repository is responsible for notifying the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the 
Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: July 29, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-20090 Filed 8-28-08; 8:45 am]
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