[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 123 (Monday, June 28, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 36676]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-15574]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Missouri Department of Natural 
Resources, Jefferson City, MO

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 in the control of the 
Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Jefferson City, MO. The human 
remains were removed from Oregon County, MO.
    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.
    An assessment of the human remains was made by the Missouri 
Department of Natural Resources professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Osage Nation, Oklahoma.
    The following tribes either requested additional information about 
the human remains, deferred to the Osage Nation, or stated that they 
did not have an interest in the human remains: Absentee Shawnee Tribe 
of Indians of Oklahoma; Caddo Nation of Oklahoma; Chickasaw Nation, 
Oklahoma; Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska; 
Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas; 
Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma; Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; Ponca Tribe 
of Nebraska; Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahoma; and Wyandotte Nation, 
Oklahoma. The Osage Nation, Oklahoma, responded with interest, and has 
sent the Missouri Department of Natural Resources a request for 
repatriation.
    In November 2008, human remains representing a minimum of four 
individuals were removed from the Thayer Site, in Oregon County, MO. No 
known individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    The human remains were removed following the initiation of a police 
investigation. In July 2008, local law enforcement was notified by a 
citizen that human remains were observed eroding from the cut bank of 
the Warm Fork of Spring River, and subsequently conducted excavations 
to determine if the site was a crime scene. A partial skull and other 
fragmentary remains were recovered, as well as unassociated prehistoric 
artifacts (possible Late Woodland potsherds and non-diagnostic lithic 
debitage) and one possible musket ball. Geomorphological data suggest a 
date of 1000 to 1200 BP for the human remains, which is consistent with 
the possible Late Woodland period. The police contacted the forensic 
anthropologist at the University of Missouri, Columbia, who in turn 
notified the Department of Natural Resources. After determining that 
stabilization of the bank and preservation in place was not a 
reasonable and prudent alternative, in November 2008, the human remains 
were removed from the site. The recovered remains were of partial 
burials, as an unknown portion of the burial site had already been lost 
to erosion. Observers from the Osage Nation, Oklahoma, were present 
throughout the excavation. In deference to the wishes of the tribe, 
analysis was confined to confirmation of Native American ancestry, and 
the human remains were put into a secure evidence locker at the Thayer 
Police Department.
    Oregon County is listed on the NAGPRA database as associated with 
Indian Land Cessions 1784-1894. The Great and Little Osage are named in 
a treaty. Their descendants are the present-day Osage Nation, Oklahoma. 
Tribal history and archeological and linguistic studies suggest that 
the ancestral Dhegiha Sioux populations were present in southern 
Missouri at the approximate time period estimated for the Thayer 
burial. The Osage are descended from the Dhegihan Sioux. Other related 
Dhegihan Sioux language group tribes with an interest in Missouri - 
Kaw, Omaha, Ponca and Quapaw - have not expressed an interest in the 
Thayer burial or have deferred to the Osage and do not have a land 
cessions claim to Oregon County.
    Officials of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains 
described above represent the physical remains of a minimum of four 
individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the Missouri 
Department of Natural Resources 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 Native American human remains 
and the Osage Nation, Oklahoma.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Judith 
Deel, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 179, Jefferson 
City, MO 65101, telephone (573) 751-7862, before July 28, 2010. 
Repatriation of the human remains to the Osage Nation, Oklahoma, may 
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is responsible for 
notifying the Osage Nation, Oklahoma, that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: June 22, 2010
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2010-15574 Filed 6-25-10 8:45 am]
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