[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76847-76848]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24530]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036872; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Nevada Historical Society, Reno, 
NV

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 Nevada Historical Society has completed 
an inventory of human remains and has determined that there is no 
cultural affiliation between the human remains and any Indian Tribe. 
The human remains were removed from Churchill County, NV.

DATES: Disposition of the human remains in this notice may occur on or 
after December 7, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Anna J. Camp, Nevada State Museum, Carson City, 600 North 
Carson Street, Carson City, NV 89701, telephone (775) 687-4810, 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 
Nevada Historical Society. 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 Nevada 
State Museum, Carson City.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, 10 individuals were removed 
from Churchill County, NV. The ancestral remains were removed from two 
surface locations--Sites 8 and 13--in the Humboldt Sink (an 
intermittent dry lakebed) by L.L. Loud, who conducted research for the 
University of California, Berkeley between April 1 and August 1, 1912. 
Site 8 was located at the end of a ridge near Humboldt Lake and Site 13 
was uncovered by drifting sands and/or a rise in lake water. The Nevada 
Historical Society (NHS) received approval to purchase part of the 
objects collected by Loud in 1912. The collection arrived in Reno in 
the summer of 1918. Institutional history and documentation indicate 
that one third of the collection was purchased by the Nevada Historical

[[Page 76848]]

Society and there is some information showing that one third was 
retained by the University of California, Berkeley (UCB). The remaining 
third purportedly was retained by the Heye Museum of the American 
Indian, but according to Loud and Harrington (1924), ``[t]he collection 
was divided between the University of California and the Nevada 
Historical Society.'' Consequently, we believe that the collection was 
split in half between UCB and NHS. No associated funerary objects are 
present.

Aboriginal Land

    The human remains 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 
aboriginal land: a final judgment of the Indian Claims Commission or 
the United States Court of Claims.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, the Nevada Historical 
Society has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 10 individuals of Native American ancestry.
     No relationship of shared group identity can be reasonably 
traced between the human remains and any Indian Tribe.
     The human remains described in this notice were removed 
from the aboriginal land of the Lovelock Paiute Tribe of the Lovelock 
Indian Colony, Nevada.

Requests for Disposition

    Written requests for disposition of the human remains 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 described in this notice to a 
requestor may occur on or after December 7, 2023. If competing requests 
for disposition are received, the Nevada Historical Society must 
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to disposition. Requests 
for joint disposition of the human remains are considered a single 
request and not competing requests. The Nevada State Museum, Carson 
City 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 and Sec.  
10.11.

    Dated: October 27, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-24530 Filed 11-6-23; 8:45 am]
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