[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 7, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58627-58628]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-23680]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Texas Parks and Wildlife 
Department, Austin, TX

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 of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 
Austin, TX. The human remains and associated funerary objects were 
removed from Lake Quitman, Wood County, TX.
    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 Texas Parks 
and Wildlife Department professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.
    In the 1960s, human remains representing a minimum of one 
individual were removed from a known Caddo cemetery site (41WD60), at 
the Quitman Lake Dam area in Wood County, TX, by person(s) unknown. At 
some point thereafter, the collection came into the possession of the 
Wood County Commissioners Court. On January 14, 1976, the Wood County 
Commissioners Court donated the collection to the Texas Parks and 
Wildlife Department. No known individual was identified. The 22 
associated funerary objects are 19 ceramic vessels, 2 arrow points, and 
a group of ceramic sherds (approximately 2,249).
    The Caddo Indians historically occupied northeast Texas, northwest 
Louisiana, southwest Arkansas, and southeast Oklahoma. The Caddo have a 
long history in northeast Texas, with the earliest identifiable Caddo 
sites dating to around A.D. 800, and developed directly out of the 
Woodland period populations of this region. The Caddo Indians were 
forcibly removed from Texas in the 19th century.
    On July 6 and 7, 2005, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department 
archeologists and Caddo Nation representatives made an assessment of 
the human remains and associated funerary objects and found the human 
remains and associated funerary objects are affiliated with the Caddo. 
Aside from one untyped vessel, the complete vessels in this collection 
have been identified as LaRue Neck Banded (n=1), Womack Engraved (n=1), 
McKinney Plain (n=2), and Ripley Engraved (n=14), each of which are 
associated with the Late Caddo Period in northeast Texas. Specifically, 
LaRue Neck Banded ceramics have been dated to A.D.1430-1680. Ripley 
Engraved ceramics date to A.D. 1430-1680 and are typical of the Titus 
Phase in northeast Texas. Perttula (2004:401- 404) identifies Ripley 
Engraved as a common ceramic in Titus Phase burials and since these are 
complete vessels (although in some cases reconstructed) lends itself to 
this interpretation. LaRue Neck Banded ceramics are generally 
considered utilitarian vessels, although better examples of this 
ceramic type may have been traded. Although LaRue Neck Banded and 
McKinney Plain ceramics are not specifically singled out as mortuary 
items, their being relatively intact and removed from what has been 
identified as a Caddo cemetery indicate that they were intentionally 
interred, probably as a mortuary offering.
    Officials of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains 
described above represent the physical remains of at least one 
individual of Native American ancestry. Officials of the Texas Parks 
and Wildlife Department also have determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 22 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 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is a 
relationship of

[[Page 58628]]

shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the Native 
American human remains and associated funerary objects and the Caddo 
Nation of Oklahoma.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Aina Dodge, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 
4200 Smith School Road, Austin, TX 78744, telephone (512) 389-4876, 
before November 6, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects to the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is responsible for notifying 
the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 10, 2008
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-23680 Filed 10-6-08; 8:45 am]
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