[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 105 (Thursday, June 1, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 35907]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11694]



[[Page 35907]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035950; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Kansas State University, 
Manhattan, KS

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Kansas State University has completed an 
inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has 
determined that there is no cultural affiliation between the human 
remains and associated funerary objects and any Indian Tribe. The human 
remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Doniphan 
County, KS.

DATES: Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice may occur on or after July 3, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Megan Williamson, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and 
Social Work, Kansas State University, 204 Waters Hall, 1603 Old Claflin 
Place, Manhattan, KS 66506-4003, telephone (785) 532-6005, 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 Kansas 
State University. 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 Kansas State 
University.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, 28 individuals were removed 
from Taylor Mound, located south of White Cloud, in Doniphan County, 
KS. In the summer of 1968, Taylor Mound was excavated as part of a 
Kansas State University archeological field school, under the direction 
of archeologist Dr. Patricia J. O'Brien. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal 
and burned wood samples collected at the site yielded dates 
corresponding to the Middle Woodland period (354 BC/BCE-A.D. 398). 
These dates also are consistent with most of the diagnostic artifacts 
recovered from the burial site. (Some pottery from the excavation also 
suggests the mound was utilized into the Late Prehistoric period and 
was associated with the Central Plains tradition (A.D. 1100-1350). In 
addition, two osteological studies were completed on the skeletal 
remains excavated from Taylor Mound. In 1971, Linda Klepinger and 
William M. Bass published the initial analysis, and in 2009, Lee 
Meadows Jantz, Richard L. Jantz, and Rebecca J. Wilson completed a 
second analysis. No known individuals were identified. The 1,390 
associated funerary objects are 912 pieces of stone debitage, 10 
hammerstones, nine bifaces, nine stone points, five scrapers, one celt, 
one stone bead, one stone blade, 200 unmodified shells, one modified 
bone disc, two turtle shell fragments, 212 ceramic body sherds, 10 
ceramic rim sherds, one lot of burned animal bones, one lot of unburned 
animal bones, 12 charcoal samples, two sediment samples containing 
burned earth, and one metal broom handle that was excavated but is 
believed to be part of a previous site disturbance.

Aboriginal Land

    The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice 
were removed from known geographic locations. These locations are the 
aboriginal lands of one or more Indian Tribes. The following 
information was used to identify the aboriginal land: treaties.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, Kansas State 
University has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 28 individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 1,390 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.
     No relationship of shared group identity can be reasonably 
traced between the human remains and associated funerary objects and 
any Indian Tribe.
     The human remains and associated funerary objects 
described in this notice were removed from the aboriginal land of the 
Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska; Kaw Nation, Oklahoma; Kickapoo 
Traditional Tribe of Texas; Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo 
Reservation in Kansas; Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma; Pawnee Nation of 
Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Nebraska; 
Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska; Sac & Fox Nation, 
Oklahoma; Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa; Three Affiliated 
Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota; and the Wichita 
and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco, & Tawakonie), Oklahoma.

Requests for Disposition

    Written requests for disposition of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for disposition 
may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes 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, or who shows that the requestor is an aboriginal land 
Indian Tribe.
    Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after July 3, 
2023. If competing requests for disposition are received, Kansas State 
University must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to 
disposition. Requests for joint disposition of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects are considered a single request and not 
competing requests. Kansas State University is responsible for sending 
a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes 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 and 
10.11.

    Dated: May 24, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-11694 Filed 5-31-23; 8:45 am]
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