[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 240 (Friday, December 17, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71662-71663]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-27360]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0033143; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Illinois State Museum, 
Springfield, IL

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Illinois State Museum 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 Illinois State Museum. 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 Illinois State Museum at the address in 
this notice by January 18, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Brooke Morgan, Illinois State 
Museum Research & Collections Center, 1011 East Ash Street, 
Springfield, IL 62703, telephone (217) 785-8930, 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 Illinois State 
Museum, Springfield, IL. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from the Aronin site, Grundy County, IL, and the 
Gougar site, Will County, IL.
    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 Illinois 
State Museum professional staff in consultation with representatives of 
the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma; Forest County Potawatomi 
Community, Wisconsin; Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi 
Indians of Michigan; Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and 
Indiana; and the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation [previously listed as 
Prairie Band of Potawatomi Nation, Kansas]. The Hannahville Indian 
Community, Michigan and the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, 
Michigan [previously listed as Huron Potawatomi, Inc.] were invited to 
consult but did not participate. Hereafter, the Indian Tribes listed in 
this section are referred to as ``The Tribes''.

History and Description of the Remains

    Sometime between 1970-1973, human remains representing, at minimum, 
nine individuals were removed from the Aronin site (11GR5), which is 
located on the east side of Aux Sable Creek in Grundy County, IL, near 
its confluence with the Illinois River and just west of the confluence 
of the Des Plaines and Kankakee Rivers. Documentation associated with 
this collection is sparse, but records indicate that the Aronin 
material was collected in the early 1970s, after burials were disturbed 
by heavy equipment operation during trenching. The construction was 
halted, archeologists were called to the scene to salvage the burials, 
and the recovered materials were subsequently donated to the Center for 
American Archeology in Kampsville, IL, for curation. In 2004, the 
Aronin site collection was transferred to the Illinois State Museum 
Research & Collections Center in Springfield, IL. The number of burials 
encountered in the early 1970s work is unclear. It is also unclear 
which objects can be associated with which burials, but all the objects 
listed in this notice are reasonably believed to be funerary objects.
    Upon transfer to the Illinois State Museum, an osteologist 
documented the partial human skeletal remains and identified nine 
individuals of Native American ancestry. The human remains belong to 
one 13-16 year old adolescent of unknown sex (Individual A); one 8-10 
year old adolescent of unknown sex (Individual B); one 6-7 year old 
adolescent of unknown sex (Individual C); one 35-45 year old adult male 
(Individual D); one 25-35 year old adult male (Individual E); one 3-12 
year old adolescent of unknown sex (Individual F); one 0-1 year old 
infant of unknown sex (Individual G); one 20+ year old adult female 
(Individual H); and one probable adult male of unknown age (Individual 
I). No known individuals were identified. The 75 associated funerary 
objects include seven silver brooches or brooch fragments, 19 miniature 
silver brooches or pins attached to fabric, one lot wool fabric, two 
small silver bands, nine pieces of scrap silver, one wooden artifact 
fragment, four knife fragments, two steel strike-a-lights, one lot 
metal fragments, one limestone smoking pipe bowl fragment, one skunk 
mandible, four large mammal ribs, one modern large mammal bone fragment 
(which may be intrusive), 14 unmodified natural pebbles and 
concretions, two complete wide silver armbands, one fragment of a wide 
silver armband, one silver cross, one magnifying glass with metal 
frame, two silver pendants, and one silver button with birchbark 
attached.
    Based on diagnostic trade items, early maps of the region, and 
other historic documentation, the Aronin site is most likely a late 
18th-early 19th century Potawatomi cemetery and is probably affiliated 
with a nearby village at Aux Sable Creek. Four pieces of decorative 
silver were stamped or engraved with maker's marks. One of the pieces 
was made by Robert Cruickshank (ca. 1748-1809) and three of the pieces 
were made by Pierre Huguet Latour (1749-1817), both of whom were 
Montreal silversmiths. The three Latour items were likely produced 
between 1780 and 1816, when he was active as a silversmith. A small 
magnifying or burning glass with a brass frame resembles those known to 
date to ca. 1750-1800. Early maps of the region note the existence of a 
Potawatomi village on the west side of Aux Sable Creek (alternatively 
referred to as Au Sable River, Sandy Creek, Sandy River, or Sand River) 
around 1812. Thomas Forsyth, in a letter to William Clark on July 20, 
1813, provided geographic information on Potawatomi and Kickapoo 
villages near the Illinois River, noting that ``at Sandy Creek near the 
forks of Illinois River is Black Partridge and Pepper two Potawatomies 
[sic] Chiefs reside.'' By 1812, Pepper had succeeded Little Chief as 
leader of the village at Aux Sable Creek. While Forsyth identified the 
Aux Sable Creek

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village as Potawatomi, in his May 31, 1812 letter to Ninian Edwards, 
John Hays claimed its population included Potawatomi, Chippewa, and 
Ottawa residents. Although the village has not been identified in the 
archeological record, it is reasonable to conclude the Aronin site 
represents a Potawatomi cemetery associated with Pepper's village at 
Aux Sable Creek.
    In June or July 1969, human remains representing, at minimum, two 
individuals were removed from the Gougar site (11WI64), which is 
located on the south side of Hickory Creek in Will County, IL, east of 
Joliet, IL, in advance of road widening by the Illinois Department of 
Transportation. Salvage excavations were performed under the direction 
of Dr. Emily Blasingham of the Illinois State Museum. According to 
Blasingham's report, the area had been severely disturbed by previous 
digging, and only fragmentary remains of individuals and associated 
objects were recovered. In 1968, prior to the Illinois State Museum's 
salvage excavation, members of the Will County Historical Society 
removed six burials and associated funerary objects. In September of 
1969, the Society reinterred the six individuals, as well as two 
additional individuals, on property owned by the Joliet Park District, 
where they remain to this day. The materials collected by the Illinois 
State Museum salvage excavation were thought to be lost, until they 
were located at the Glenn A. Black Laboratory at Indiana University in 
2009. In 2009, the collection was returned to the Illinois State 
Museum. It is unclear which objects can be associated with which 
individuals, but the objects listed in this notice are reasonably 
believed to be funerary objects. The human remains in the Illinois 
State Museum's collection have been identified as fragments belonging 
to the human remains that were reinterred on Joliet Park District 
property.
    The partial human remains were examined by an osteologist. Based on 
contextual information, they were identified as belonging to two 
individuals of Native American ancestry: One 20+ year old adult of 
unknown sex and one 0-3 year old infant of unknown sex. No known 
individuals were identified. The 17 associated funerary objects include 
one lot glass beads, two shell beads, one lot shells, one metal brooch 
fragment, one tinkling cone or ear bob, one lot metal/stone/fabric, two 
lots fabric/textiles, one bone or antler button, one lot knife 
fragments, one lot wood and sediment, one lot wood or bark, and four 
lots metal.
    The artifacts are consistent with other late 18th-early 19th 
century Potawatomi sites in northern Illinois. Maps of ca. 1830 Native 
American villages in the region show a Potawatomi village referred to 
as ``Hickory Creek Settlement'' that may correspond with the Gougar 
location. Based on artifact types, historic documentation, and oral 
history, Gougar likely represents a Potawatomi habitation site and 
cemetery that predates 1830, at which time the property was settled by 
Euro-Americans.

Determinations Made by the Illinois State Museum

    Officials of the Illinois State Museum have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of eleven individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 92 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. Brooke Morgan, Illinois State Museum 
Research & Collections Center, 1011 East Ash Street, Springfield, IL 
62703, telephone (217) 785-8930, email [email protected], by 
January 18, 2022. 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 Illinois State Museum is responsible for notifying The Tribes 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: December 10, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-27360 Filed 12-16-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P