[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 32 (Thursday, February 15, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11865-11866]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-03089]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037386; 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 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 Saline County, MO.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after March 18, 2024.

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 the Kansas 
State University.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals were 
removed from Hamner Mounds, 23SA115, in Saline County, MO, four mounds 
on the bluff edge south of and

[[Page 11866]]

overlooking the Missouri River. In June and July of 1970, Dr. Patricia 
J. O'Brien of Kansas State University conducted excavations of three of 
the mounds (Mounds 1, 2, and 3) with staff and students at the Great 
Plains Archaeological Field School. The resulting assemblage removed 
from the mounds were processed and cataloged by field school students 
during the field school then were taken to Kansas State University for 
analysis, reporting, and curation, where it has since remained. The 
human remains consist of two human teeth removed from separate mound 
excavations. One of the teeth is a maxillary first premolar from Mound 
2, identified as from a 9-to-12 year-old subadult of indeterminate sex. 
The second tooth is fragmented pieces of crown, so no aging was 
possible. The 360 associated funerary objects are one lot debitage 
(approximately 4,859 pieces), 147 worked chert, 49 hematite, six 
limonite, 78 stone tools (16 points, three abraders, five gravers, 
three choppers, six hammerstones, eight biface, three spokenshaves, 
three hoe fragments, three scrapers, one polished quartzite slab, and 
27 miscellaneous stone tools), 62 ceramic sherds, 13 miscellaneous 
animal bones, two rocks, one charcoal sample, and one soil core/sample.

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: geographical and historical information.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, Kansas State University has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 360 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 Osage Nation.

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 March 18, 2024. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, Kansas State 
University 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. Kansas State University is responsible for sending 
a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes identified in this notice.
    This notice was submitted before the effective date of the revised 
regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 12, 
2024). As the notice conforms to the mandatory format of the Federal 
Register and includes the required information, the National Park 
Service is publishing this notice as submitted.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.

    Dated: February 7, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-03089 Filed 2-14-24; 8:45 am]
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