[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16011-16012]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04667]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037537; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Michigan History Center, Lansing, 
MI

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 Michigan History Center 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 in this 
notice. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed 
from Allen County, IN.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after April 5, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Tobi Voigt, Director of Museums, Michigan History Center, 
702 W. Kalamazoo St., Lansing, MI 48915, telephone (517) 243-4041, 
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 
Michigan History Center. 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 Michigan 
History Center.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed 
from Allen County, IN. On an unknown date in 1912, Joseph Edinger was 
said to have excavated the burial site of the Miami leader, Little 
Turtle. A braid of hair with silver buckles was donated to the Michigan 
History Center. According to the Michigan History Center's records, 
most of what Edinger excavated from the burial site was said to have 
been donated to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, but this is 
unconfirmed, and no further details are known. The one associated 
funerary object is one lot of silver buckles.

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. The following types of information were 
used to reasonably trace the relationship: historical information, 
other relevant information, or expert opinion.

Lineal Descent

    The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice 
are connected to an identifiable individual whose descendants can be 
traced directly and without interruption by means of a traditional 
kinship system or by the common law system of descendance. The 
following types of information were used to reasonably trace the 
relationship: historical information, other relevant information, or 
expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, the Michigan History 
Center has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
     The one lot of 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

[[Page 16012]]

traced between the human remains and associated funerary objects 
described in this notice to Daryl Baldwin (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma) and 
Scott Willard (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma).

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 identified in this notice.
    2. Any lineal descendant or Indian Tribe 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.
    Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after April 5, 2024. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the Michigan History 
Center must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to 
repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary object are considered a single request and not 
competing requests. The Michigan History Center 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 27, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-04667 Filed 3-5-24; 8:45 am]
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