[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 96 (Thursday, May 20, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27474-27475]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10658]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0031921; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Wisconsin-Madison, 
Department of Anthropology, Madison, WI

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of 
Anthropology has completed an inventory of human remains, 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 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 should submit a 
written request to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of 
Anthropology. If no additional requestors come forward, transfer of 
control of the human remains 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 should submit a written 
request with information in support of the request to the University of 
Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Anthropology at the address in this 
notice by June 21, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Sissel Schroeder, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 
Department of Anthropology, 1180 Observatory Drive, 5240 Social 
Sciences Building, Madison, WI 53706, telephone (608) 262-0317, 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 under 
the control of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of 
Anthropology, Madison, WI. The human remains were removed from Dane, 
Green Lake, Monroe, and Sauk Counties, WI.
    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 
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Anthropology 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Forest 
County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin; Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin; 
Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of 
Wisconsin; Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of 
the Lac du Flambeau Reservation of Wisconsin; Menominee Indian Tribe of 
Wisconsin; Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Wisconsin; and the Stockbridge 
Munsee Community, Wisconsin. The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska was 
invited to consult but did not participate. Hereafter, the above listed 
Indian Tribes are referred to as ``The Consulted and Invited Tribes.''

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1937, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual 
were removed from the Willow Drive Mound Group (47DA119) in Dane 
County, WI. The site is located on the south shore of Lake Mendota, and 
it is one of several mound groups on the campus of the University of 
Wisconsin-Madison. In 1937, Charles E. Brown, of the Wisconsin 
Historical Society, excavated the two linear mounds in this group. 
Based on a 1966 publication by David Baerreis, these human remains--a 
nearly complete cranium--are believed to have been removed from ``Mound 
3.'' How they came to be curated at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison, Department of Anthropology is unclear (University faculty were 
not directly involved with the excavations). The human remains belong 
to a young adult, possibly female. No known individual was identified. 
No associated funerary objects are present.
    Sometime prior to 1967, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed from the Big Bend site (47GL262) in Green Lake 
County, WI. The site is located on the east bank of the Fox River. In 
1922, Towne Miller reported the site, and at some undetermined point, 
excavations were carried out there. At least one bird effigy mound and 
one panther effigy mound were originally identified at the Big Bend 
site. A number written on the human remains matches the number assigned 
to a clavicle reported in a 1967 Department of Anthropology inventory. 
How the human remains came to be curated at the University of 
Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Anthropology is unknown. (They might 
have been a loan from the Milwaukee Public Museum, but as that 
institution has no record of such a loan, the University of Wisconsin-
Madison, Department of Anthropology has asserted control of them.) The 
partial skeletal remains belong to an elderly adult male. No known 
individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    Sometime prior to 1968, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed from the Mound Prairie East site (47MO6) in 
Monroe County, WI. The site is in the Town of Adrian, near Smith Creek, 
which is part of the upper La Crosse River drainage in western 
Wisconsin. The Mound Prairie East site, of Woodland cultural 
affiliation, was visited by H.E. Cole and A.S. Flint ca. 1912, as part 
of a statewide archeological survey conducted under the aegis of the 
Wisconsin Archeological Society. Cole and Flint observed human bone 
fragments on the disturbed tops of several mounds, and they excavated 
human remains in the mound nearest to the Roberts house. The human 
remains have been housed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 
Department of Anthropology since at least 1968, as documented in an 
inventory from that same year. (They might have been a loan from the 
Wisconsin Historical Society, but as that institution has no record of 
such a loan, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of 
Anthropology has asserted control of them.) The fragmentary remains 
belong to an adult male. No known individual was identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.

[[Page 27475]]

    At an unknown date, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed from Sauk County, WI. They are believed to have 
been removed from the Langdon Mounds site (47SK57), an Effigy Mound 
group consisting of three bear effigy mounds and one linear mound (as 
there is no known record of excavations at this mound group by the 
University of Wisconsin-Madison, the SK57 designation might be a field 
number for a different site in Sauk County where UW archeologists did 
carry out excavations). The site, situated on the south side of the 
Baraboo River and on a toe slope along the northern side of the South 
Range of the Baraboo Hills, was reported in 1906, by A.B. Stout. At 
that time, the mounds had been disturbed by road construction and 
timber cutting. Most of the referenced surveys at this site describe 
attempts to relocate the mounds; none mention human remains or burials. 
The fragmentary remains belong to a 16-20-year-old female. No known 
individual was identified. No funerary objects are present.

Determinations Made by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department 
of Anthropology

    Officials of the Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Anthropology have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice are Native American based on an examination by a 
physical anthropologist and the recovery of these remains from a known 
archeological site that has a Late Woodland affiliation.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of four individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     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 any present-day Indian Tribe.
     According to final judgments of the Indian Claims 
Commission or the Court of Federal Claims, the land from which the 
Native American human remains were removed is the aboriginal land of 
the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1), the disposition of the 
human remains may be to the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and the 
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.

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 should submit a written request with information 
in support of the request to Sissel Schroeder, University of Wisconsin-
Madison, Department of Anthropology, 1180 Observatory Drive, 5240 
Social Sciences Building, Madison, WI 53706, telephone (608) 262-0317, 
email [email protected], by June 21, 2021. After that date, if no 
additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains to the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and the Winnebago 
Tribe of Nebraska may proceed.
    The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Anthropology is 
responsible for notifying The Consulted and Invited Tribes that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: May 6, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-10658 Filed 5-19-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P