[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 171 (Tuesday, September 6, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54530-54531]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19162]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0034443; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion Amendment: The Filson Historical 
Society, Louisville, KY

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; amendment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Filson Historical Society has amended a 
Notice of Inventory Completion published in the Federal Register on 
March 1, 2019. This notice amends the number of associated funerary 
objects and the cultural affiliation of human remains and associated 
funerary objects in a collection removed from Fort Clark in Mercer 
County, ND.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after October 6, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Kelly Hyberger, Filson Historical Society, 1310 South Third 
Street, Louisville, KY 40208, telephone (502) 635-5083, email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the 
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
Filson Historical Society. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice. Additional information on the 
amendments and determinations in this notice, including the results of 
consultation, can be found in the inventory or related records held by 
the Filson Historical Society.

Amendment

    This notice amends the determinations published in a Notice of 
Inventory Completion in the Federal Register (84 FR 7112, March 1, 
2019). Repatriation of the items in the original Notice of Inventory 
Completion has not occurred. This notice corrects the site location of 
the human remains and associated funerary objects, the number of 
associated funerary objects, and the cultural affiliation of the human 
remains and associated funerary objects as a result of additional 
documentation being found in our files. The corrected History and 
Description of the Remains should read:
    In 1912, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual 
were removed from the vicinity of Fort Clark in Mercer County, ND, by 
Bernhardt George Letzring. According to a hand-written note from 
Letzring dated April 5, 1935, he removed the remains of this individual 
and the associated funerary objects from graves located about ``40 feet 
northwest of the old Ruins of oven at Fort Clark on the bank of the 
Missouri River in Mercer County, North Dakota.'' At that time, Letzring 
identified these human remains as those of Sacajawea. Sometime prior to 
1935, Letzring gave the human remains and associated funerary objects 
to Lewis A. Walter of Louisville, KY. In 1935, Walter loaned these 
items to the Filson Historical Society, and in 1951, the estate of 
Lewis A. Walter gifted them to the museum. There is no evidence 
whatsoever to suggest any validity to the claim that these are the 
human remains of Sacajawea. No known individual was identified. The 40 
associated funerary objects are three elk tooth beads, four decorated 
glass trade beads, 22 solid color glass trade beads, two glass trade 
bead fragments, one bone gorget, one clay pipe fragment, one metal pipe 
bowl, one stone pipe bowl, one cowrie shell necklace, one cowrie shell 
bracelet, one rattlesnake tail, one cluster of cotton pods, and one 
bundle of natural fiber rope.
    The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from 
a burial ground located just outside the boundaries of Fort Clark and 
near a well-documented Mandan and Arikara village and burial ground. 
First the Mandan and later the Arikara occupied this village from the 
1790s until 1862. Existing trade networks with the Mandan prompted 
colonial fur traders to establish Fort Clark in 1831, approximately 900 
feet from the village. Following construction of the Fort, a complex 
trade economy continued to develop between the Fort's occupants and the 
neighboring Mandan and Arikara. Both the presence of European trade 
beads among the associated funerary objects and the geographic location 
of the grave suggest that the

[[Page 54531]]

human remains of the individual described in this notice are culturally 
affiliated to the Mandan and Arikara.

Determinations (as Amended)

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Filson Historical Society has determined that:
     The human remains described in this amended notice 
represent the physical remains of one individual of Native American 
ancestry.
     The 40 objects described in this amended 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects described in this notice and the Three Affiliated Tribes of the 
Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation 
may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations identified in this notice.
    2. Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian 
organization not identified in this notice who shows, by a 
preponderance of the evidence, that the requestor is a lineal 
descendant or a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian 
organization.
    Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after October 6, 2022. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the Filson Historical 
Society must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to 
repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects are considered a single request and not 
competing requests. The Filson Historical Society is responsible for 
sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, Sec.  
10.10, Sec.  10.13, and Sec.  10.14.

    Dated: August 29, 2022.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2022-19162 Filed 9-2-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P