[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 47 (Thursday, March 12, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10772-10773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-5327]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, Great Plains Regional Office, Aberdeen, SD

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 Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, Great Plains Regional Office, Aberdeen, SD, 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 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the cultural 
items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    The three cultural items are one quartzite endscraper and two bone 
awls. A detailed assessment of the cultural items was made by the South 
Dakota State Historical Society-Archaeological Research Center 
professional staff under the direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
staff in consultation with representatives of the Three Affiliated 
Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota.
    In 1977, archeological salvage excavations were conducted at the 
Indian School Village, 39HU10/94-245, Hughes County, SD, by Tom 
Haberman, South Dakota State Historical Society-Archeological Research 
Center. Human remains and funerary objects were found in an abandoned 
cache pit exposed by housing construction activities. The human remains 
were reburied in the adjacent churchyard that same year. The funerary 
objects were not reburied, and instead were curated at the 
Archaeological Research Center, Rapid City, SD.

[[Page 10773]]

    The Indian School Village dates to the Extended Coalescent (A.D. 
1500-A.D. 1675) and Post-Contact Coalescent (A.D. 1675-A.D. 1750) 
Periods. Evaluation of documentation from the excavation of the Indian 
School Village site indicates that the cultural items were found in 
association with Native American human remains. Other human remains 
from the Indian School Village have been identified as Native American 
based on physical anthropological assessment, manner and location of 
burial, and types of funerary objects. Based on historical documents, 
oral history, and archeological data, the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara 
peoples occupied what is now present-day South Dakota and North Dakota, 
and are represented today by the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort 
Berthold Reservation, North Dakota.
    In June 2008, the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation of the Three 
Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota 
submitted a request to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Great Plains 
Regional Office for repatriation of cultural items from central South 
Dakota, including the three unassociated funerary objects described 
above from the Indian School Village.
    Officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs have determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the three 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 Indian Affairs have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), a relationship of 
shared group identity can be traced between the unassociated funerary 
objects and the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold 
Reservation, North Dakota.
    Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Paul Hofmann, Chief, Division of Environment, Safety and 
Cultural Resources, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 115 4th Ave., Aberdeen, 
SD 57401, telephone (605) 226-7656, before April 13, 2009. Repatriation 
of the unassociated funerary objects to the Three Affiliated Tribes of 
the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota may proceed after that date 
if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Bureau of Indian Affairs, Great Plains Regional Office is 
responsible for notifying the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort 
Berthold Reservation, North Dakota that this notice has been published.

    Dated: February 3, 2009.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-5327 Filed 3-11-09; 8:45 am]
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