[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 196 (Wednesday, October 9, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54169-54170]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-22048]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0028908; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Omaha District, Omaha, NE, and South Dakota 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 (USACE, 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 no 
cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects and any present-day Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations. 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 USACE, Omaha District. 
If no additional requestors come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to the Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice may proceed.

DATES: 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 USACE, Omaha District at the address in this notice 
by November 8, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Ms. Sandra Barnum, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha 
District, ATTN: CENWO-PMA-C, 1616 Capital Avenue, Omaha, NE 68102, 
telephone (402) 995-2674, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given in accordance with 
the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 
U.S.C. 3003, of the completion of an inventory

[[Page 54170]]

of human remains and associated funerary objects under the control of 
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, Omaha, NE, and in the 
physical custody of the South Dakota State Archaeological Research 
Center, Rapid City, SD. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from site 39BR0011 and an unidentified site in 
Brule County, SD.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3) and 
43 CFR 10.11(d). 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. 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 South 
Dakota State Archaeological Research Center (SARC) and USACE, Omaha 
District professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, 
Montana; 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); Prairie Island Indian Community in the 
State of Minnesota; 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; Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North & South 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

    Sometime in the 1950s or 1960s, human remains representing, at 
minimum, one individual were removed from site 39BR0011 in Brule 
County, SD. The site was excavated in 1953, 1954, and 1965 by the 
Smithsonian Institution, and either during these excavations or shortly 
thereafter illegal excavations occurred onsite. At that time, a 
neighbor gifted a box containing human remains and artifacts he had 
collected from the site to a Mr. Thompson. In May 2000, Mr. Thompson 
donated the box to the Siouxland Heritage Museum. The Museum then 
contacted SARC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about the human 
remains. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers accepted the human remains 
and had them transferred to SARC on November 3, 2001. Based on the wide 
temporal and geographic span represented by the artifacts, it was 
determined that the artifacts and the human remains (a cranial 
fragment) in the box were not likely associated. No known individuals 
were identified.
    Sometime prior to 1979, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed from an unidentified site in Brule County, SD. 
In all, human remains and soil samples from two burials were collected 
by Robert Gant, and were kept at the W.H. Over Museum until the end of 
the 1979 field season. The human remains and soil samples were then 
transferred to the University of Tennessee for analysis, where they 
remained until 1988, at which time they were transferred back to South 
Dakota. The human remains were reburied in Stanley County at site 
39ST15. The soil samples were sent to SARC in January 1988. In February 
2002, one of the soil samples was water screened, and multiple human 
bone fragments were collected. No known individuals were identified. 
The two associated funerary objects are two soil samples.

Determinations Made by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

    Officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice are Native American based on archeological context.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of two individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the two 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), a relationship of shared 
group identity cannot be reasonably traced between the Native American 
human remains and associated funerary objects and any present-day 
Indian Tribe.
     According to final judgments of the Indian Claims 
Commission, the land from which the Native American human remains and 
associated funerary objects were removed is the aboriginal land of the 
Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.
     Treaties indicate that the land from which the Native 
American human remains and associated funerary objects were removed is 
the aboriginal land of the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota. 
Executive Orders indicate that the land from which the Native American 
human remains and associated funerary objects were removed is the 
aboriginal land of the Sioux, represented today by The Tribes.
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1), the disposition of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects may be to The Tribes.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    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 Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, ATTN: 
CENWO-PMA-C, 1616 Capitol Avenue, Omaha, NE 68102, telephone (402) 995-
2674, email [email protected], by November 8, 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 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District is responsible for 
notifying The Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 13, 2019.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2019-22048 Filed 10-8-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P