[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 136 (Tuesday, July 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45920-45921]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15101]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036184; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Connecticut Office of State 
Archaeology, Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, University of 
Connecticut, Storrs, CT

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 Connecticut State Museum of Natural 
History (CSMNH) 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 
Hennepin County, MN.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after August 17, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Jacqueline Veninger-Robert, University of Connecticut, 
75 N. Eagleville Road, Unit 3023, Storrs, CT 06269, telephone (860) 
486-6953, 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 
CSMNH. 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 the CSMNH.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, five individuals were 
removed from Hennepin County, MN. In the 1880s, a resident of 
Colebrook, Connecticut purchased an island in Lake Minnetonka, Hennepin 
County, Minnesota, to construct a sporting lodge. During construction, 
a burial mound was disturbed, and the human remains of at least five 
individuals and a ceramic vessel were exhumed and brought back to 
Connecticut. More than 100 years later, these human remains and this 
ceramic vessel were given to the Colebrook Historical Society by the 
Colebrook resident's descendants, and in 2014, the human remains and 
associated funerary objects were transferred to the Connecticut Office 
of State Archaeology (OSA). Forensic examination conducted in 2014 
determined that the fragmentary human remains belong to two adults, two 
juveniles, and one infant. The two associated funerary objects are one 
lot consisting of ceramic vessel fragments and one mineral fragment.

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 type of information was used to reasonably trace the 
relationship: geographical.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the CSMNH has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of five individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The two 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 Lower Sioux Indian Community 
in the State of Minnesota; Prairie Island Indian Community in the State 
of Minnesota; Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota; and 
the Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota.

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

[[Page 45921]]

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 August 17, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the CSMNH 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 CSMNH 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, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: July 6, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-15101 Filed 7-17-23; 8:45 am]
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