[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 175 (Monday, September 10, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45658-45659]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-19528]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0026290; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 
Forest Service, Boise National Forest, Boise, ID

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, 
Boise National Forest, 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 
Boise National Forest. 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 Boise National Forest at the address in 
this notice by October 10, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Cecilia Romero Seesholtz, Boise National Forest, 1249 South 
Vinnell Way, Suite 200, Boise, ID 83709, telephone (208) 373-4102, 
email [email protected].

[[Page 45659]]


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 USDA, Boise 
National Forest, Boise, ID. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from Elmore County, ID.
    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

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Boise 
National Forest professional staff in consultation with representatives 
of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation and the 
Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, Nevada.

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1989, human remains representing, at minimum, one adult 
individual of indeterminate sex were removed from site 10-EL-01, in 
Elmore County, ID. The human remains were removed during a permitted 
archeological excavation of the site, but were not identified until 
2012, when the Boise National Forest initiated a comprehensive analysis 
of the site's extensive faunal assemblage. The analysis was performed 
by Susanne Miller, Faunal Analysis & CRM Services, and completed in 
2017. The human remains are extremely fragmentary and are evidence of 
extensive looting that occurred at the site. Boise National Forest 
records dating to the 1950s reference the ``churned'' nature of the 
site, which the 1989 excavation confirmed. Stratigraphic mixing of 
chronologically sensitive point types, the presence of historic 
artifacts (such as tobacco tins and modern trash), and the results of 
sediment and radiocarbon analyses document an extremely disturbed site.
    The human remains primarily consist of bones from the upper and 
lower torso areas--scapula, ribs, and vertebrae. A patella, a few 
elements of the hand and foot, and two teeth were identified. The 
general ``adult'' estimation of age is based on the degree of 
epiphyseal fusion of some of the surviving elements, specifically the 
scapula, proximal ribs, and features of the vertebral centra. No known 
individuals were identified. The 662 associated funerary objects are: 
Two abraders; 18 bone awls and awl fragments; seven bone and shell 
beads; eight bone tubes; 34 modified bones (including incised, 
polished, and shaped specimens); 13 biface and biface fragments; 20 
cores; four drills, 59 hammerstones, seven pestles; 11 knives; 21 
modified flakes; one pipe fragment, one polished bobcat canine, 82 
pottery sherds; 361 projectile points and point fragments; 11 scrapers; 
and two unifaces.
    The radiocarbon dates and projectile point chronology established 
at 10-EL-01 indicate that Native Americans occupied the site, probably 
on an intermittent and seasonal basis, over a long period of time 
beginning in the late Early Archaic Period (8,000-5,000 B.P.) and 
continuing through the Protohistoric Period (A.D. 1700-1805) and 
possibly even into the Contact Period (1805-1870). Most of the 
radiocarbon dates and point types date to the Late Archaic Period 
(2,000-150 B.P.). The historic inhabitants of southern Idaho include 
the Northern Shoshone and Northern Paiute, which are distinguished 
primarily on the basis of language (Murphy and Murphy 1986:284). 
Economic lifeways and socio-political organization were similar for the 
Shoshone (including the Boise, Bruneau, and Weiser subgroups) and the 
Northern Paiute, both of which occupied southwestern Idaho at the time 
of historic contact (Murphy and Murphy 1960, 1986; Steward 1938). The 
Northern Paiute comprised the Payette, Weiser, and Bannock subgroups, 
with the latter defining a group of mounted hunters who moved eastward 
to the Fort Hall area of Idaho during the eighteenth century (Liljeblad 
1957:81). The primary ethnographic sources for southern Idaho are 
Murphy and Murphy (1960), Steward (1938, 1941), and Steward and 
Wheeler-Voegelin (1974).
    The cultural assemblage from 10-EL-01, when viewed in the context 
of the geographical, archeological, historical, and ethnographic 
records for southern Idaho, reasonably points to a shared group 
identity with the Northern Shoshone and Northern Paiute peoples who 
occupied the Snake River Plain. The preponderance of the evidence 
indicates that the human remains and associated funerary objects from 
10-EL-01 are culturally affiliated with present-day Shoshone-Bannock 
Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation and Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the 
Duck Valley Reservation, Nevada.

Determinations Made by the USDA Forest Service, Boise National Forest

    Officials of the USDA Forest Service, Boise National Forest 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 662 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 
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation and the Shoshone-
Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, Nevada.

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 Cecilia Romero Seesholtz, Boise National 
Forest, 1249 South Vinnell Way, Suite 200, Boise, ID 83709, telephone 
(208) 373-4102, email [email protected], by October 10, 2018. After 
that date, if no additional requestors have come forward, transfer of 
control of the human remains and associated funerary objects to the 
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation and the Shoshone-
Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, Nevada may proceed.
    The Boise National Forest is responsible for notifying the 
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation and the Shoshone-
Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, Nevada that this notice 
has been published.

    Dated: August 20, 2018.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2018-19528 Filed 9-7-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P