[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 112 (Friday, June 11, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33329-33330]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-14039]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: New York University College of 
Dentistry, New York, NY

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

[[Page 33330]]

(NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the completion of an inventory of human 
remains in the possession and control of the New York University 
College of Dentistry, New York, NY. The human remains were removed from 
the cemetery at Kienuka, Niagara 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 the New York 
University College of Dentistry professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Tuscarora Nation of New York.
    In 1903, human remains representing a minimum of two individuals 
were removed from the cemetery at Kienuka in Niagara County, NY, by 
John MacKay. The remains were subsequently added to the collection of 
William MacKay, John MacKay's brother. The Museum of the American 
Indian, Heye Foundation, purchased William MacKay's collection in 1918. 
In 1956, the Museum of the American Indian transferred the remains to 
Dr. Theodore Kazamiroff, New York University College of Dentistry. No 
known individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    Kienuka is located within the boundaries of the Tuscarora 
Reservation, which was established in 1797. The removal occurred prior 
to the Antiquities Act, and, therefore, the U.S. Department of the 
Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, is not asserting control. Archival 
and historical records suggest that the removal of the remains was not 
authorized by the Tuscarora Nation and that a law enforcement official 
from the Tuscarora Nation investigated the desecration of the cemetery 
but was unable to arrest anyone.
    Kienuka was a Neutral village of the early 17th century, and the 
morphology of the remains is consistent with individuals of Native 
American ancestry. The Neutral were a confederacy of Iroquoian speakers 
who lived to the south and north of the eastern half of Lake Erie. 
Their name was derived from the neutral position they occupied 
geographically and sociopolitically between the Huron and Iroquois 
Confederacies. Between 1647 and 1651, the Neutral coalition was 
fractured and its people were decimated as a result of warfare with the 
Iroquois nations. The Neutral ceased to be identified as a distinct 
group by 1660.
    In 1713, the Tuscarora migrated to New York from North Carolina. 
The Tuscarora were adopted as the sixth nation of the Iroquois 
Confederacy in 1722 and 1723. After the Revolutionary War, the 
Tuscarora settled on the east side of the Niagara River. The Tuscarora 
Nation received their land grant, which includes portions of Niagara 
County, in 1797. Their reservation was subsequently expanded and 
continues to include the site of Kienuka.
    Officials of the New York University College of Dentistry have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains 
described above represent the physical remains of two individuals of 
Native American ancestry. Officials of the New York University College 
of Dentistry also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), 
a relationship of shared group identity cannot be reasonably traced 
between the Native American human remains and any present-day Indian 
tribe.
    The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review 
Committee (Review Committee) is responsible for recommending specific 
actions for disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains. In 
July 2009, the New York University College of Dentistry requested that 
the Review Committee recommend disposition of the culturally 
unidentifiable human remains of two individuals to the Tuscarora Nation 
of New York. The Review Committee considered the proposal at its 
October 30-31, 2009, meeting and recommended disposition of the human 
remains to the Tuscarora Nation of New York.
    A March 4, 2010, letter from the Designated Federal Official, 
writing on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior, transmitted the 
authorization for the College to effect disposition of the physical 
remains to the Tuscarora Nation of New York, contingent on the 
publication of a Notice of Inventory Completion in the Federal 
Register. This notice fulfills that requirement.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Dr. 
Louis Terracio, New York University College of Dentistry, 345 East 24th 
St., New York, NY 10010, telephone (212) 998-9917, before July 12, 
2010. Disposition of the human remains to the Tuscarora Nation of New 
York may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
    The New York University College of Dentistry is responsible for 
notifying the Tuscarora Nation of New York that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: May 27, 2010
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2010-14039 Filed 6-10-10; 8:45 am]
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