[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 233 (Monday, December 5, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75907-75908]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-31072]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, 
Bemidji, MN

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council has completed an 
inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects in 
consultation with the appropriate Indian tribes, and has determined 
that there is no cultural affiliation between the remains and any 
present-day Indian tribe. Representatives of any Indian tribe that 
believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains may 
contact the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council. Disposition of the human 
remains and associated funerary objects is to the Indian tribes stated 
below may occur if no additional requestors come forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the human remains should contact the 
Minnesota Indian Affairs Council at the address below by January 4, 
2012.

ADDRESSES: James L. (Jim) Jones, Cultural Resource Director, Minnesota 
Indian Affairs Council, 3801 Bemidji Avenue NW., Suite 5, Bemidji, MN 
56601, telephone (218) 755-3223.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 the Minnesota Indian 
Affairs Council (MIAC). The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from the following Pine County, MN.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3) and 
43 CFR 10.11(d). 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.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the MIAC 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Bad 
River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad 
River Reservation, Wisconsin; Bois Forte Band (Nett Lake) of the 
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota; Fond du Lac Band of the Minnesota 
Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota; Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa 
Tribe, Minnesota; Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan; Lac Courte 
Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Lac du 
Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau 
Reservation of Wisconsin; Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior 
Chippewa Indians, Michigan; Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Chippewa 
Tribe, Minnesota; Mille Lacs Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, 
Minnesota; Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota; Red Cliff Band of Lake 
Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Sokaogon Chippewa Community, 
Wisconsin; St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; White Earth Band of 
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota (hereinafter referred to as ``The 
Tribes'').

History and Description of the Remains

    At an unknown date, human remains representing, at minimum, two 
individuals were removed by a private citizen from an undesignated site 
on the Kettle River, near Hinckley in Pine County, MN. Some years 
later, a relative brought the human remains to the cultural resource 
department of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community, who 
transferred the human remains to the Minnesota Office of the State 
Archaeologist in 2001. In 2002, the human remains were transferred to 
the MIAC (H386). No known individuals were identified. The one 
associated funerary object is a piece of birch bark.
    Birch bark is found in both pre-contact and post-contact burial 
contexts in Minnesota. It is a known traditional American Indian burial 
practice to wrap human remains in birch bark as part of the internment 
process. These human remains have no temporal context and no 
archeological classification and cannot be associated with any present-
day Indian tribe.

[[Page 75908]]

Determinations Made by the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council

    Officials of the MIAC have determined that:
     Based on non-destructive physical analysis and catalogue 
records, the human remains are Native American.
     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.
     According to final judgments of the Indian Claims 
Commission, the land from which the Native American human remains and 
associated funerary objects were removed is the aboriginal land of The 
Tribes.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of two individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the one object described 
above is 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.
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1), the disposition of the 
human remains is to The Tribes.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains or any other Indian tribe 
that believes it satisfies the criteria in 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1) should 
contact James L. (Jim) Jones, Cultural Resource Director, Minnesota 
Indian Affairs Council, 3801 Bemidji Avenue NW., Suite 5, Bemidji, MN 
56601, telephone (218) 755-3223, before January 4, 2012. Disposition of 
the human remains to The Tribes may proceed after that date if no 
additional requestors come forward.
    The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council is responsible for notifying 
The Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: November 29, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-31072 Filed 12-2-11; 8:45 am]
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