[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 15, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14057-14058]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5865]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


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, Laramie, WY. The 
human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from the 
Upper Sunshine Reservoir area of northwest Wyoming.
    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 Crow 
Tribe of Montana.
    In 1973, human remains representing a minimum of two individuals 
were removed from a cliff ledge on private ground near the Upper 
Sunshine Reservoir area of northwest Wyoming by University of Wyoming 
personnel. The burial location had been discovered by recreational rock 
climbers. The remains have been at the University of Wyoming since that 
time (HR019 and HR020). No known individuals were identified. The 985 
associated funerary objects are 944 small glass trade beads, 6 large 
white glass trade beads, 11 large blue glass trade beads, 4 medium blue 
glass trade beads, 6 dentalim shell beads, 3 brass buttons, 2 metal 
loops (earrings?), 1 metal bracelet, 3 shell hair pipe beads, 1carved 
wooden bowl, 1 lot of numerous cloth fragments representing a trade 
blanket, 1 lot of a trade coat in fragments with brass braid and brass 
buttons, 1 lot of a bison robe in fragments, and 1 lot of miscellaneous 
leather.
    The historic associated funerary objects suggest a burial date in 
the early 1800s. The University of Wyoming, Anthropology Department, 
Human Remains Repository, determined that the human remains are Native 
American based on the presence of platymeric femoral morphology, 
toothwear patterns, the presence of shovel shaped incisors, 
interorbital observations, and distinctive cranial morphology. Based on 
craniometrics, burial location, artifacts, and hair styles, officials 
of the Human Remains Repository reasonably believe that these remains 
represent individuals related to the Crow Tribe of Montana. In 
addition, the Crow Tribe, based upon the burial location within the 
aboriginal homelands of the tribe and review of the information from 
the Human Remains Repository, claims a shared group identity.
    Officials of the University of Wyoming, Anthropology Department, 
Human Remains Repository, have determined, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 
3001(9), that 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, have also determined, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), 
that the 985 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 a death rite or ceremony. Lastly, officials of the 
University of Wyoming, Anthropology Department, Human Remains 
Repository, have determined, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), that 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 Crow Tribe of Montana.
    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 
April 14, 2011. Repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects to the Crow Tribe of Montana may proceed after that 
date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The University of Wyoming Anthropology Department, Human Remains 
Repository, is responsible for notifying the Crow Tribe of Montana that 
this notice has been published.


[[Page 14058]]


    Dated: March 9, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-5865 Filed 3-14-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P