[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 217 (Thursday, November 10, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67953-67954]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-24553]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0034846; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Tennessee, 
Department of Anthropology, Knoxville, TN

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 67954]]

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of Tennessee, Department of 
Anthropology (UTK), has completed an inventory of human remains and 
associated funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural 
affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects 
and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The 
human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from 
Leavenworth County, KS.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or 
after December 12, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Robert Hinde, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, 
University of Tennessee, 527 Andy Holt Tower, Knoxville, TN 37996-0152, 
telephone (865) 974-2445, 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 UTK. 
The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in 
this notice. Additional information on the determinations in this 
notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the 
inventory or related records held by UTK.

Description

    Between 1969 and 1970, human remains representing, at minimum, 
seven individuals were removed from 14LV330, the Nester site, in 
Leavenworth County, KS. The first burial was discovered when a backhoe 
trench was dug in front of the Nester house in 1969. Leavenworth County 
Sheriff Dan Hawes contacted William Bass at the University of Kansas 
(KU) to excavate. William Bass and students excavated two additional 
burials in 1969, and a fourth burial in 1970. Following excavation, the 
ancestral human remains and burial objects were moved to the KU Museum 
of Anthropology. In 1971, Bass moved from KU to UTK, and brought the 
human remains from the Nester site to UTK. In addition to the four 
individuals identified by Bass, single skeletal elements belonging to 
an additional three individuals were identified during a more recent 
inventory. Most likely, William Bass brought them to UTK in 1971, when 
he started working at the university. Numerous historic funerary 
objects excavated from the Nester site (none of which are under the 
control of UTK) support a date prior to 1750 for the interments. No 
known individuals were identified. Only three associated funerary 
objects were transferred to UTK. They are one lot of beads, one lot of 
stone, and one lot of faunal bones.

Cultural Affiliation

    The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice 
are connected to one or more identifiable earlier groups, tribes, 
peoples, or cultures. There is a relationship of shared group identity 
between the identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures 
and one or more Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. The 
following types of information were used to reasonably trace the 
relationship: archeological, historical, and geographical.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the University of Tennessee, Department of Anthropology 
has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of seven individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The three lots of 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.
     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 Kaw Nation, Oklahoma.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to Dr. Robert 
Hinde, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University of Tennessee, 527 
Andy Holt Tower, Knoxville, TN 37996-0152, telephone (865) 974-2445, 
email [email protected]. 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 December 12, 2022. 
If competing requests for repatriation are received, the University of 
Tennessee, Department of Anthropology 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 University 
of Tennessee, Department of Anthropology 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, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: November 2, 2022.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2022-24553 Filed 11-9-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P