[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 149 (Monday, August 3, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46710-46711]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-16779]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0030517; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of 
the Interior, National Park Service, Effigy Mounds National Monument, 
Harpers Ferry, IA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 
Effigy Mounds National Monument, 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 Effigy Mounds National Monument. 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 Effigy Mounds National Monument 
at the address in this notice by September 2, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Jim Nepstad, Superintendent, Effigy Mounds National 
Monument, 151 Hwy 76, Harpers Ferry, IA 52146, telephone (563) 873-3491 
Ext. 101, 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 U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 
Effigy Mounds National Monument, Harpers Ferry, IA, 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 
Superintendent, Effigy Mounds National Monument.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    At an unknown date, three cultural items were removed from an 
unknown site, likely in Allamakee County, IA. It is not known how they 
came to be in collections at Effigy Mounds National Monument. 
Originally accessioned as a loan from a local collector, in 1985 the 
lender claimed they were not part of his collection. In 1986, human 
remains that had been collected with the objects were transferred to 
the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist for analysis. The remains 
were retained and reburied by the Office of the State Archaeologist 
under the authority of the 1976 Iowa Burial Law. The three unassociated 
funerary objects are two flakes and one sample of red ocher.
    In 1950, 112 cultural items were removed from a slumped talus 
deposit below the Hanging Rock Shelter, in

[[Page 46711]]

Allamakee County, IA, by NPS archeologist Paul Beaubien. The railroad 
had cut through the deposit, exposing human remains and artifacts. The 
human remains did not enter Effigy Mounds National Monument collections 
and their whereabouts is unknown. The 112 unassociated funerary objects 
are 110 pottery sherds and two fish bones.
    Sometime between 1958 and 1963, 277 cultural items were removed 
from the Waukon Junction Rockshelter in Allamakee County, IA, by 
unknown persons, probably as the site was being impacted by highway 
construction. In 1986, human remains collected with the objects were 
transferred to the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist and retained 
under the authority of the 1976 Iowa Burial Law. The 277 unassociated 
funerary objects are one shell tool, 87 freshwater mussel shells, two 
bifaces, one flake, eight unmodified stones, 20 pottery sherds, four 
utilized flakes, one bone ornament, one modified flake, 147 faunal 
bones, one stone tool, two woodland variant Tama projectile points, one 
piece of shatter, and one bone awl.
    Based on archeological context, ethnographic information, and oral 
traditions the unassociated funerary objects described above are 
identified as belonging to the Woodland tradition. The Woodland 
tradition transitions into the Oneota tradition which is identified as 
being clearly ancestral to the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin.

Determinations Made by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National 
Park Service, Effigy Mounds National Monument

    Officials of the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park 
Service, Effigy Mounds National Monument have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 392 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 Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin.

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 Jim Nepstad, Superintendent, Effigy Mounds 
National Monument, 151 Hwy 76, Harpers Ferry, IA 52146, telephone (563) 
873-3491 Ext. 101, email [email protected], by September 2, 2020. 
After that date, if no additional claimants have come forward, transfer 
of control of the unassociated funerary objects to the Ho-Chunk Nation 
of Wisconsin may proceed.
    The U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Effigy 
Mounds National Monument is responsible for notifying the Crow Creek 
Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota; Flandreau 
Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota; Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin; Iowa 
Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska; Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma; Lower Sioux 
Indian Community in the State of Minnesota; Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; 
Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Nebraska; 
Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesota; Sac & Fox 
Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska; Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahoma; 
Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa; Santee Sioux Nation, 
Nebraska; Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota; Sisseton-
Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota; Standing 
Rock Sioux Tribe of North & South Dakota; Upper Sioux Community, 
Minnesota; Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska; and the Yankton Sioux Tribe of 
South Dakota that this notice has been published.

    Dated: June 25, 2020.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.

[FR Doc. 2020-16779 Filed 7-31-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P