[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 110 (Tuesday, June 9, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32593-32594]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-14115]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-18277]; [PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP15.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, Forest Service, Ozark-St. Francis National Forests, 
Russellville, AR

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, 
Ozark-St. Francis National Forests, in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, have 
determined that the cultural items listed in this notice meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or 
representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items 
should submit a written request to the Ozark-

[[Page 32594]]

St. Francis National Forests. If no additional claimants come forward, 
transfer of control of the cultural items to the lineal descendants, 
Indian tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice 
may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to the Ozark-St. Francis National 
Forests at the address in this notice by July 9, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Reggie Blackwell, USDA, Forest Service, Ozark-St. Francis 
National Forests, 605 West Main, Russellville, AR 72801, telephone 
(479) 964-7200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 under the 
control of the USDA, Forest Service, Ozark-St. Francis National Forests 
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 Native 
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    In 1985, four cultural items were removed from sites 3LE139 and 
3PH233, the County Line site, from Federal land managed by the USDA 
Forest Service, Ozark-St. Francis National Forests, AR. The sites were 
looted by Rickey Joe Beard, who was successfully prosecuted in 1985 in 
violation of the Archeological Resources Protection Act. As part of his 
plea bargain, Beard showed the sites to the authorities. Beard 
reportedly collected human remains from the sites, but none of Beard's 
collections were returned to the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests. 
The four cultural items were collected from the surface in 1985. The 
County Line site is a prehistoric open site on a lower ridge spur and 
toe slope overlooking the St. Francis floodplain. The site was recorded 
in 1985 based on information from Beard and was revisited and probed by 
Michael Pfeiffer and Robin Toole, USDA, Forest Service, in 1990.
    The four unassociated funerary objects are reconstructable vessels 
and identified as one Carson Red on Buff var. Olmond (a deep-profile 
flaring rim bowl); one plain everted rim jar; and two Barton Incised 
var. Kent (a flaring rim jar with three chronologically sensitive 
modes, var. Kent, the Memphis rim, and appliqu[eacute] triangular 
handles). The cultural items date from A.D. 1450 to 1600.

Determinations Made by the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests

    Officials of the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests have determined 
that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the four 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.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary objects and The Quapaw Tribe of Indians.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Reggie Blackwell, USDA, Forest Service, 
Ozark-St. Francis National Forests, 605 West Main, Russellville, AR 
72801, telephone (479) 964-7200, by July 9, 2015. After that date, if 
no additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control of the 
unassociated funerary objects to The Quapaw Tribe of Indians may 
proceed.
    The Ozark-St. Francis National Forests are responsible for 
notifying the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Alabama-
Quassarte Tribal Town; Caddo Nation of Oklahoma; Cherokee Nation; 
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; Eastern 
Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Jena Band of Choctaw Indians; Kialegee 
Tribal Town; Miami Tribe of Oklahoma; Mississippi Band of Choctaw 
Indians; Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Shawnee Tribe; The 
Chickasaw Nation; The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; The Muscogee (Creek) 
Nation; The Osage Nation (previously listed as the Osage Tribe); The 
Quapaw Tribe of Indians; The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; Thlopthlocco 
Tribal Town; Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe; United Keetoowah Band of 
Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma; and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes 
(Wichita, Keechi, Waco & Tawakonie), Oklahoma, that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: May 6, 2015.
Mariah Soriano,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2015-14115 Filed 6-8-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-50-P