[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 38 (Monday, February 26, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14098-14099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-03799]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037455; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Department of Anthropology at 
Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL

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 Department of Anthropology at Northern 
Illinois University (NIU Department of Anthropology) 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 an unknown county, IL, and Marshall 
County, IL.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after March 27, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Leila Porter, Chair, Department of Anthropology at 
Northern Illinois University, 1425 W Lincoln Hwy., DeKalb, IL 60115, 
telephone (815) 753-5669, 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 
NIU Department of Anthropology. 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 NIU Department of Anthropology.

Description

    In 1976, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual 
were donated to the NIU Department of Anthropology and were identified 
by the donor as being from an unknown county, IL. It is not known how 
or when the donor acquired the human remains, but the donor was the 
owner of antique stores in Aurora, IL, and Geneva, IL. No associated 
funerary objects are present.
    In fall 1975, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed from Hopewell Estates in Marshall County, IL. A 
2010 collections inventory by NIU Department of Anthropology staff 
noted these human remains and associated funerary objects in an 
envelope marked with collection date and site information, but there is 
no earlier record or information on how they came to be in the NIU 
Department of Anthropology collections or who originally collected 
them. The six associated funerary objects are one red ceramic sherd and 
five lithic fragments.

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: anthropological, archeological, geographical, historical 
information, and oral tradition.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the NIU Department of Anthropology has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The six 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 Citizen Potawatomi Nation, 
Oklahoma; Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; Forest County Potawatomi 
Community, Wisconsin; Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin; Iowa Tribe of 
Kansas and Nebraska; Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa 
Indians of Michigan; Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi 
Indians of Michigan; Miami Tribe of Oklahoma; Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, 
Minnesota (Fond du Lac Band); Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; Pokagon Band of 
Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana; Ponca Tribe of Indians of 
Oklahoma; Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation; Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe 
of Michigan;

[[Page 14099]]

Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan; Shawnee Tribe; 
and the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.

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 27, 2024. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the NIU Department of 
Anthropology 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 NIU Department of Anthropology is responsible 
for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native 
Hawaiian organizations 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 16, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-03799 Filed 2-23-24; 8:45 am]
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