[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 5, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19619-19620]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-07768]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-20585: PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Defense, Army 
Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, Omaha, NE., and State 
Archaeological Research Center, Rapid City, SD

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District (Omaha 
District), has completed an inventory of human remains and associated 
funerary objects, in consultation with the appropriate Indian tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations, and has determined that there is a 
cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects and present-day Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. 
Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request to the Omaha District. 
If no additional requestors come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects 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 
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to the Omaha District at the address in this 
notice by May 5, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Ms. Sandra Barnum, U.S. Army Engineer District, Omaha, ATTN: 
CENWO-PM-AB, 1616 Capital Avenue, Omaha, NE 68102, telephone, (402) 
995-2674, email [email protected].

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 under the control of the Omaha District. 
The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from 
site 39BF243, in Buffalo County, SD.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative

[[Page 19620]]

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.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects was made by State Archaeological Research Center (SARC) and 
Omaha District professional staff in consultation with representatives 
of the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1964, human remains representing, at minimum, three individuals 
were removed from site 39BF243 in Buffalo County, SD. They are 
presently located at the SARC and are under the control of the Omaha 
District. The human remains were removed by Robert Gant, Assistant 
Director of the W.H. Over Museum (WHOM), when three coffin burials were 
disturbed by highway construction activities at Big Bend Dam, along the 
Missouri River. Funerary objects were associated with the first two 
individuals, but not the third. The human remains and associated 
funerary objects were transported to WHOM.
    In 1974, the collections from Individuals 1 and 2 were transferred 
to the newly established SARC. At that time, the location of the human 
remains from Individual 3 was not known. The human remains from 
Individuals 1 and 2 were then transferred to the University of 
Tennessee-Knoxville to be inventoried by Dr. William Bass. After the 
return of the human remains to SARC, a portion of the human remains 
from Individual 2 were repatriated to the Oglala Lakota Nation in 1982.
    In 1993, SARC conducted a review of the collections and located the 
human remains and associated funerary objects from Individual 1, 
identified as a 1.5 to 2.5 year old infant. Also located was additional 
skeletal material from Individual 2, identified as a child between 6 
and 8 years of age, along with the associated funerary objects. In 
2000, the human remains of Individual 3, identified as an adult male 
between 18 and 22 years, were found at the collection center for the 
Archeology Lab, Augustana College-Sioux Falls. They were then 
transferred to SARC and placed with the collections from Individuals 1 
and 2. No known individuals were identified.
    The 11,143 associated funerary objects are 6 copper beads, 10,991 
glass beads, 1 fragment of a paper book, 3 fragment of a glass bottle, 
31 buttons (metal, glass, pottery), 8 toy fragments (china), 9 cloth 
fragments, 2 coffin wood fragments, 1 metal and wood comb, 1 Bisque 
doll, 5 faunal fragments, 1 floral fragment, 1 glass knob, 2 iron 
rings, 1 iron cup handle, 4 leather fragments, 1 lot of wood, metal, 
and cloth, 9 metal nails, 3 fragments of paper, 1 plastic flower 
pendant, 1 pewter pedestal, 13 fragments of ironstone saucer, 1 sewing 
pin book, 1 tin pill box, 40 fragments tin plate and cup, 3 tin spoons, 
2 toy sad irons, and 1 wooden thread spool.
    The human remains were collected from coffin burials and are 
determined to be Native American based the location of the site near a 
Native American village at the townsite of Fort Thompson and the 
funerary objects associated with the burials. Based on the use of 
coffins, the mix of European and Native elements among the funerary 
objects, and the manufacturing dates for an ironstone saucer, a Bisque 
done, wire nails, and pink seed beads, the human remains date after 
A.D. 1870. This represents the Early Reservation Period at the nearby 
Crow Creek Indian Reservation, which, by the 1870s, was inhabited by 
the Yanktonai. The associated funerary objects are consistent with 
Yanktonai historic burials. Today, the Yanktonai are represented by the 
Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.

Determinations Made by the Omaha District

    Officials of the Omaha District have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of three individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 11,143 objects 
described in this notice 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.
     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 associated funerary objects and the Yankton 
Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to Ms. Sandra Barnum, U.S. Army Engineer 
District, Omaha, ATTN: CENWO-PM-AB, 1616 Capital Ave., Omaha, NE 68102, 
telephone, (402) 995-2674, email [email protected], by May 
5, 2016. After that date, if no additional requestors have come 
forward, transfer of control of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects to the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota may 
proceed.
    The Omaha District is responsible for notifying the Yankton Sioux 
Tribe of South Dakota that this notice has been published.

    Dated: March 10, 2016.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2016-07768 Filed 4-4-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-50-P