[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 100 (Wednesday, May 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33644-33645]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11010]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035905; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


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

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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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 
Plymouth County, IA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after June 23, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Ozlem Kilic, University of Tennessee, Office of the 
Provost, 527 Andy Holt Tower, Knoxville, TN 37996-0152, telephone (865) 
974-2454, email [email protected] and [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

    Human remains representing, at minimum, 43 individuals were removed 
from the Broken Kettle Mill Creek Cemetery site (13PM1), in Plymouth 
County, IA. The burials were discovered in 1964, when the landowner, 
Donald Banks, found ancestral human remains

[[Page 33645]]

on the property. Banks contacted David Lilly of the Iowa Archaeological 
Society who excavated the site with Donald's brother, Roger Banks from 
September 6 to September 27, 1964. Following the excavation, these 
human remains were held by Banks. Correspondence on file at UTK 
indicates that they were likely transferred to William Bass in 1965, 
while he was at the University of Kansas (KU), and that Bass 
subsequently brought them to Knoxville in 1971, when he began working 
for the UTK Department of Anthropology. Radiocarbon dates submitted by 
D. R. Henning in 1969 indicate that Broken Kettle, 13PM1, was occupied 
between A.D. 960 and 1165. Broken Kettle is classified as part of the 
Mill Creek Phase/Culture. While Lilly and Banks did not explicitly date 
the cemetery, they did classify it as ``fairly definite'' Mill Creek, 
based on artifact types, and surmised the cemetery was even associated 
with the Broken Kettle site. Numerous dates obtained for Mill Creek 
Phase sites range from A.D. 810-1580; however, stratigraphic evidence 
has been used to posit a range of dates between A.D. 900-1400. The 12 
associated funerary objects are six lots consisting of shells, four 
lots consisting of faunal remains, one lot consisting of lithics, and 
one lot consisting of rocks.
    Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed 
from the Kimball Mound site (13PM4) in Plymouth County, IA. These human 
remains are housed at UTK, but details concerning their removal and 
transfer to UTK are unknown. In 1939, Charles Keyes and Ellison Orr 
excavated the Kimball Mound site as Works Progress Administration (WPA) 
Project 3600, during which the burials of seven individuals were 
uncovered, and in 1963, Walter Klippel found a burial when he returned 
to the site with Dale Henning. Records at UTK indicate that in July of 
1959, William Bass examined the ancestral remains of an individual from 
this site at the ``Little Bend Camp.'' Based on a pattern of practice, 
the human remains listed here were likely sent to Bass while he was at 
KU and then brought by him to Knoxville in 1971, when he began teaching 
at UTK. Alternatively, as Klippel also subsequently taught at UTK, it 
is possible that he effected the transfer to UTK.
    All the above-described human remains have been identified as 
Native American based on documented association with ancient Native 
American sites classified as Mill Creek culture. Based on artifact 
type, site location, and mortuary practice, the Broken Kettle Mound and 
Kimball mounds were classified as part of the Mill Creek Culture. 
Numerous dates obtained for Mill Creek Phase sites range from A.D. 810-
1580; however, stratigraphic evidence has been used to posit a range of 
dates between A.D. 900-1400. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    Mill Creek manifestations are grouped within the Initial variant of 
the Middle Missouri Tradition. Archeological and ethnohistorical 
evidence links later Middle Missouri groups with the Mandan and 
Hidatsa, who are present-day members of the Three Affiliated Tribes of 
the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota.

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, geographical, and historical.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, UTK has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 44 individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 12 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 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 June 23, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, UTK 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. UTK is 
responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribe 
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, and Sec.  10.14.

    Dated: May 17, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-11010 Filed 5-23-23; 8:45 am]
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