[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 217 (Friday, November 8, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60449-60450]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-24409]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0029070; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: University of 
Tennessee, Department of Anthropology, Knoxville, TN, and U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, Omaha, NE

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The University of Tennessee, Department of Anthropology (UTK) 
and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District (Omaha District), 
in consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations, has determined that the cultural items listed in this 
notice meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal 
descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian 
organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim these 
cultural items should submit a written request to UTK and Omaha 
District. If no additional claimants come forward, transfer of control 
of the cultural items 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 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to UTK and Omaha District at the 
address in this notice by December 9, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Robert Hinde, University of Tennessee, Office of the 
Provost, 527 Andy Holt Tower, Knoxville, TN 37996-0152, telephone (865) 
974-2445, email [email protected] and [email protected]. 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. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items under the 
control of the University of Tennessee, Department of Anthropology, 
Knoxville, TN, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, 
Omaha, NE, that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects 
under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    During the summers of 1965 and 1966, 77 lots of cultural items were 
removed from 39CO9, the Leavenworth site, in Corson County, SD, under 
the direction of William Bass. After the excavations, Bass transferred 
the cultural items to the University of Kansas. In 1971 when he moved 
to Knoxville, Bass transferred the cultural items to UTK. The 77 lots 
of unassociated funerary objects include six lots of botanicals (wood 
and seeds), six lots of ceramics, seven lots of fauna (animal bones and 
hide), 33 lots of glass that include beads, two lots of lithics, 17 
lots of metal items, and six lots of minerals.
    The Leavenworth site dates to circa A.D. 1800 to 1832. It comprises 
a village and cemetery. The Leavenworth site is discussed in a number 
of historical documents, including those of French fur trader Pierre-
Antoine Tabeau, who lived with the Arikara at the Leavenworth site, as 
well as in the Journals of Lewis and Clark, who visited the site in 
1804. The site was attacked by Colonel Leavenworth in 1823. George 
Catlin passed the still-inhabited site on a steamboat in 1832. In 1834,

[[Page 60450]]

Maximilian, Prince of Wied, visited the Leavenworth site. Finding it 
abandoned, he collected some human remains. Excavation and removal of 
human remains and materials at the site continued during the twentieth 
century under the direction of various individuals, including W.H. 
Over, M.W. Stirling, W.D. Strong, J.B. Caldwell and William Bass. In 
addition to the historical documents stating that the Arikara inhabited 
the Leavenworth site, archeological research on the material culture 
from the site places it within the Post-Contact Coalescent tradition, 
which is believed to be affiliated with the Arikara. Today, the Arikara 
are part of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, known as the Three 
Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota. 
Consultation with the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold 
Reservation, North Dakota supports the definition of these objects as 
unassociated funerary objects. Bass did not collect the related human 
remains due to their fragmentary nature, but he did assign a burial 
number to the objects.

Determinations Made by the University of Tennessee, Department of 
Anthropology and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

    Officials of the University of Tennessee, Department of 
Anthropology and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 77 lots of cultural 
items described above 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 and are believed, by a preponderance of 
the evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a 
Native American individual.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary objects and the Three Affiliated Tribes of the 
Fort Berthold Reservation, North 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 claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Dr. Robert Hinde, University of Tennessee, 
Office of the Provost, 527 Andy Holt Tower, Knoxville, TN 37996-0152, 
telephone (865) 974-2445, email [email protected] and [email protected]; and 
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], by December 9, 2019. After that 
date, if no additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control 
of the unassociated funerary objects to the Three Affiliated Tribes of 
the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota may proceed.
    The University of Tennessee, Department of Anthropology and the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District are responsible for 
notifying the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, 
North Dakota, that this notice has been published.

    Dated: October 4, 2019.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2019-24409 Filed 11-7-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P