[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25825-25826]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11541]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0027962; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Office of the State 
Archaeologist, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the State Archaeologist Bioarchaeology Program, 
previously listed as the Office of the State Archaeologist Burials 
Program, 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 Office of the 
State Archaeologist Bioarchaeology Program. 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 Office of the State Archaeologist 
Bioarchaeology Program at the address in this notice by July 5, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Lara Noldner, Office of the State Archaeologist 
Bioarchaeology Program, University of Iowa, 700 S Clinton Street, Iowa 
City, IA 52242, telephone (319) 384-0740, 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 Office of the 
State Archaeologist Bioarchaeology Program, Iowa City, IA. The human 
remains and associated funerary objects were removed from site 13WD216 
in Sioux City, Woodbury County, IA.
    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 Office 
of the State Archaeologist Bioarchaeology Program professional staff in 
consultation with representatives of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of 
the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota; Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of 
the Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota; Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe 
of South Dakota; Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of the Lower Brule 
Reservation, South Dakota; Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of 
Minnesota; Oglala Sioux Tribe (previously listed as the Oglala Sioux 
Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota); Rosebud Sioux Tribe 
of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota; Santee Sioux Nation, 
Nebraska; Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota; Sisseton-
Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota; Spirit 
Lake Tribe, North Dakota; Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota; and the 
Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota (hereafter referred to as ``The 
Tribes'').

History and Description of the Remains

    In September 1958, human remains representing, at minimum, 12 
individuals were removed from the Sioux City South Ravine (13WD216) in 
Woodbury County, IA. The human remains were disturbed by heavy 
machinery at a sand borrow during the construction of Interstate 29. 
Staff from Morningside College began work at the site on the day of the 
discovery, and Reynold Ruppe of the University of Iowa completed the 
excavation. The site was looted twice during the excavation, resulting 
in the loss of human remains and artifacts. The remaining artifacts and 
human remains were dispersed, with some displayed at the Sioux City 
Public Museum and some reposed at the University of Iowa. In 1965, most 
of the human remains and artifacts were reunited in Sioux City, Iowa. 
The human remains were then transferred to William Bass at the 
University of Kansas for study, while the artifacts were sent to the 
Smithsonian Institution laboratory in Lincoln, Nebraska. Most of the 
human remains and some of the artifacts from site 13WD216 were 
discovered in the repository of the University of Tennessee-Knoxville 
in early 2018, and were transferred to the Iowa Office of the State 
Archaeologist Bioarchaeology Program in July 2018. Individuals 
represented include one

[[Page 25826]]

middle-aged male, three young adult males, two middle-aged females, 
three young-middle adult females, one young adult female, one female 17 
to 18 years old, and one child 11 to 12 years old (Burial Project 
3362). No known individuals were identified. The 101 associated 
funerary objects are eight beads, 17 buttons, six fabric scraps, 10 
fragments of a bone object, three leather belts (partial), four shoe 
soles/fragments, one lead bullet, two coffin handles (one partial), one 
coffin lace, one coffin plaque fragment, 26 square cut nails, two 
screws, 14 fragments of coffin wood, one iron brace, one iron bracket, 
and four ceramic sherds.
    Based on the presence of square cut nails, the site is roughly 
dated to A.D. 1800-1900. Graves with Prosser buttons post-date 1840, 
while the burial with the mass-produced coffin handle likely dates 
between 1860 and 1880. A European-tradition burial position (supine and 
extended) in wooden coffins and the mix of ancestry apparent from 
osteological analysis lend support to the identification of this site 
as the burial ground of a small French and Native American community 
mentioned in a county history as having emerged in the 1850s. Not all 
individuals excavated from this cemetery were identified as Native 
American. Four individuals were identified as Native American through 
facial morphology and cranial metrics. Two individuals, a young adult 
male and female, were determined to have African American ancestry, 
possibly with Native American admixture, based on cranial metrics and 
dental morphology. Two individuals, a young adult male and the 11- to 
12-year-old child, were determined to be Euroamerican based on facial 
and dental morphology. Ancestry could not be determined osteologically 
for the four individuals whose crania were not present, however, after 
discussion with tribal representatives, they are considered to be 
Native American. The Past and Present of Woodbury County (Constant R. 
Marks, 1904) does not specify the tribal affiliation of all the 
individuals living in the area, but one household included a daughter 
of War Eagle, and the Sioux and Dakota are mentioned.

Determinations Made by the Office of the State Archaeologist 
Bioarchaeology Program

    Officials of the Office of the State Archaeologist Bioarchaeology 
Program have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of ten individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 101 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 Tribes.

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 Dr. Lara Noldner, Office of the State 
Archaeologist Bioarchaeology Program, University of Iowa, 700 S Clinton 
Street, Iowa City, IA 52242, telephone (319) 384-0740, email [email protected], by July 5, 2019. After that date, if no additional 
requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the human remains 
and associated funerary objects to The Tribes may proceed.
    The Office of the State Archaeologist Bioarchaeology Program is 
responsible for notifying The Tribes that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: May 14, 2019.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2019-11541 Filed 6-3-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P