[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 8 (Thursday, January 12, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3807-3809]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-00509]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0022621]; [PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Metroparks of the Toledo Area, 
Toledo, OH

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Metroparks of the Toledo Area (Metroparks Toledo) 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 Metroparks Toledo. 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 Metroparks Toledo at the address in this 
notice by February 13, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Joseph Fausnaugh, Metroparks of the Toledo Area, 5100 West 
Central Avenue, Toledo, OH 43615, telephone (419) 407-9700, email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the 
Native American Graves Protection and

[[Page 3808]]

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 Metroparks Toledo, Toledo, OH. The human remains and 
associated funerary objects were removed from Audubon Island, City of 
Maumee, Lucas County, OH.
    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.

Consultation

    On behalf of Metroparks Toledo, a detailed assessment of the human 
remains was made by professional staff of the Ohio History Connection, 
Columbus, OH, in consultation with representatives of the Eastern 
Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, the Ottawa 
Tribe of Oklahoma, the Shawnee Tribe, and the Wyandotte Nation.

History and Description of the Remains

    In April and October 2014, human remains representing, at minimum, 
one individual were removed from 33LU0805 in Lucas County, OH. At the 
request of the landowner (Metroparks Toledo), on April 10, 2014, Ohio 
History Connection (OHC) staff recovered human remains and funerary 
items that were exposed and eroding out of Audubon/Ewing Island in the 
Maumee River. Members of the Miami and Shawnee nations were present 
during this excavation. Only the right side of a single individual 
(approximately 40% of the individual), likely a male between the ages 
of 17-20 years, was recovered at that time, as the remainder of the 
burial was stable. Associated funerary items were also recovered. All 
human remains and associated funerary objects were temporarily 
transferred to the OHC's laboratory facilities in Columbus for 
cleaning, cataloging and analysis. Non-artifact remains of water 
screened soil (rocks and shell) from burial context were retained. 
Following consultation with the Indian tribes listed above, OHC staff 
returned to the site on October 1 and 2, 2014, to excavate the 
remainder of the burial. This follow-up excavation was similarly 
overseen by representatives of the consulted Indian tribes, and all 
excavated human remains and associated funerary items were again 
temporarily transferred to the OHC's laboratory facilities in Columbus, 
where they were cleaned, cataloged, analyzed, and rejoined with the 
human remains and associated funerary items that were excavated in 
April 2014. All human remains and associated funerary items recovered 
from 33LU0805 are currently being temporarily held at the OHC's 
Columbus facility on behalf of the Toledo Metroparks.
    In total, one individual was identified. No known individuals were 
identified. The 3,049 associated funerary objects include the 
following: 1 pan; 2 kettles; 2 arm bands; 1 brooch; 1 glass mirror; 2 
musket balls; 1 strike-light; 2 flints; 19 copper coils; 14 tinkler 
cones; 1 tubular long bead; 517 tubular small beads; 2,130 seed beads; 
10 pieces of possible fabric; 2 pieces of charcoal; 37 seeds; 3 stones; 
4 rock and shell; 2 light fractions; 1 non-human bone fragment; 11 
ceramic sherds; 21 flint flakes; 11 buckshot; 1 rose head nail; 7 brass 
flakes; 4 clay fragments with vermillion; 1 lot of an unspecified 
number of corroded iron fragments; 1 otolith; 1 cone; 2 finial-like 
bone objects; 1 musket ball fragment; 83 wampum beads; 2 unknown 
material fragments; 1 fixed blade knife with half tang; 1 bone tube; 1 
pair of scissors; 1 wooden object; 1 disc-shaped button; 15 perforated 
triangular brass fragments; 1 iron ring; 1 brass ring; 1 ferrule; 1 
silver ring; 6 ferrule fragments; 1 leather bag; 1 sample of a granular 
substance; 1 sample of vermillion powder; 1 textile and cordage; 1 
fixed blade knife with full tang; 7 samples of textile fragments; 3 
pieces of textile, leather, and organic material; 3 samples of textile 
and leather fragments; 1 knife blade with rust fragments; 1 sample of 
knife handle fragments; 1 rivet; 24 kettle fragments; 4 unperforated 
brass triangles; 1 silver clipping; 1 sample of cordage fragments; 1 
sample of cordage; 28 hawk bell fragments; 1 bell clapper; 6 solder 
fragments; 1 shaped sheet of brass; 1 iron awl with bone handle and 
coat button attached; 1 button; 1 butt cone; 1 non-human, possibly 
modified bone fragment; 15 brass fragments; 1 sample of iron fragments; 
1 wire; and 12 samples of water screened residual portion of soil.
    A nearby 18th century Ottawa grave demonstrates that this part of 
the island may have been occupied and used as a burial area by the 
Ottawa until around the time of the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. Audubon 
Island is located in the lower Maumee Valley in northern Ohio. Some 
Ottawa bands had taken up residence in the lower Maumee Valley by A.D. 
1740-1750. Following Pontiac's siege of Detroit in the summer of 1763, 
some of the Ottawa bands from that area also resettled to the lower 
Maumee Valley. In 1764, Captain Thomas Morris met an Ottawa delegation 
at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, adjacent to Audubon Island. Between 
1783 and 1794, Audubon Island was known as Col. McKee's Island, and was 
farmed as part of Alexander McKee's Department of Indian Affairs post 
at the foot of the Maumee Rapids. Several other Euro-Canadian traders 
occupied lands in the area, presumably with the consent of the local 
Ottawa.
    In 1795, many of the Great Lakes-Ohio Valley tribes signed the 
Treaty of Greenville, which produced several land cession, including a 
12-square-mile reserve surrounding the foot of the Maumee Rapids and 
Audubon Island. Occupation of Audubon Island by the Ohio Ottawa appears 
to have ceased at that time, at which point some of them moved to 
Walpole Island, Canada. Between 1807 and 1817, the United States 
established four small reservations for the Ottawa along the lower 
Maumee River. Audubon Island lies between two of these reservations. In 
1831 to 1833, the four reservations were finally ceded to the United 
States in return for lands in present-day Franklin County, KS. In 1867, 
the Kansas reservation organization was dissolved and the Ottawa sold 
their individual allotments and moved to Oklahoma. Descendants of the 
Ottawa that occupied Audubon Island are members of the Ottawa Tribe of 
Oklahoma.

Determinations Made by Metroparks Toledo

    Officials of Metroparks Toledo have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of one individual of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 3,049 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 Ottawa 
Tribe of Oklahoma.

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

[[Page 3809]]

request with information in support of the request Joseph Fausnaugh, 
Metroparks of the Toledo Area, 5100 West Central Avenue, Toledo, OH 
43615, telephone (419) 407-9700, email 
[email protected], by February 13, 2017. After that 
date, if no additional requestors have come forward, transfer of 
control of the human remains and associated funerary objects to the 
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma may proceed.
    Metroparks Toledo is responsible for notifying the Eastern Shawnee 
Tribe of Oklahoma, the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, the Ottawa Tribe of 
Oklahoma, the Shawnee Tribe, and the Wyandotte Nation that this notice 
has been published.

    Dated: December 20, 2016.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2017-00509 Filed 1-11-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P