[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 93 (Monday, May 13, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41463-41464]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-10328]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037908; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intended Disposition: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
Bureau of Land Management, Craig, CO

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 U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau 
of Land Management intends to carry out the disposition of human 
remains, associated funerary objects, unassociated funerary objects, 
sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony removed from Federal 
or Tribal lands to the lineal descendants, Indian Tribe, or Native 
Hawaiian organization with priority for disposition in this notice.

DATES: Disposition of the human remains or cultural items in this 
notice may occur on or after June 12, 2024. If no claim for disposition 
is received by May 13, 2025, the human remains or cultural items in 
this notice will become unclaimed human remains or cultural items.

ADDRESSES: Kymm Gresset, Field Manager, Bureau of Land Management, 
Little Snake Field Office, 455 Emerson Street, Craig, CO 81625, 
telephone (970) 826-5089, 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 
Bureau of Land Management, and additional information on the human 
remains or cultural items in this notice, including the results of 
consultation, can be found in the related records. The National Park 
Service is not responsible for the identifications in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

    Based on the information available, human remains representing at 
least one individual have been reasonably identified. The 313 
associated funerary objects are ground stone and lithic artifacts and 
faunal bone tools and faunal bone fragments and associated feature 
sediment.
    In Moffat County, Colorado, during planned excavations at 
5MF.11113, human remains were discovered on December 22, 2023. The 
individual was found at the base of a pit-type feature of the site. 
Excavation of one mostly intact and complete adult female was completed 
on February 13, 2024. Within the fill, just above and surrounding the 
human remains, approximately 163 fragments of faunal bone and four 
pieces of stone-tool-making debris were noted. The fill also contained 
a large amount of well-preserved sagebrush and juniper charcoal 
fragments. The Ancestral remains were surrounded by several funerary 
objects including a large concave, pecked stone located near the right 
scapula. The stone was located above the thoracic and cervical 
vertebrae, scapulae, and rib area. A complete stone tool was located 
anterior to the coxae. Two ground stone manos were located just north 
of the cranium. Two burned and shattered stone tools, as well as 15 
tested pebbles were located atop and adjacent to the cranium. Three 
complete bone awls (split ungulate long bones) and a lithic artifact 
were located just west of the left hand. A left-side, possible adult 
pronghorn scapula was located just beyond and west of the right hand. 
The remains of a possible deer scapula were located on the east side of 
the body beyond the coxae, and north of the possible canine cranium. A 
pile of broken, crushed, and unburned faunal bones with a lithic 
artifact on top was uncovered a few centimeters north of the left foot. 
An articulated distal tibia, calcaneus, and astragalus of a young adult 
deer-sized ungulate was present. An articulated, unfused, broken 
calcaneus and astragalus of a sub-adult deer or pronghorn-sized 
ungulate was also present. A possible canine cranium, in a fragmented 
pile, was located posterior to the coxae. These remains appear to 
represent a single individual. The remains are likely fox or coyote-
sized canid. A lithic artifact was also recovered adjacent to the 
canine cranium. After recovery of the human remains and associated 
artifacts, additional fragments of ground stone artifacts were 
determined to be likely associated with the human remains, so those 
artifacts were recovered and placed with the remains and items above, 
secured at the BLM Field Office in Meeker, CO. Based on the analysis of 
charcoal from a different feature, it was determined that the site 
dates to around 5,500 years before present, which places the individual 
in the Archaic cultural context, as described by archaeologists.

Determinations

    The Bureau of Land Management has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
     The 313 objects (including 31 boxes of soil recovered from 
the burial feature) described in this notice are reasonably believed to 
have been placed intentionally with or near individual human remains at 
the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony.
     The Crow Tribe of Montana; Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the 
Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Northern 
Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; Northern Cheyenne 
Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana; Pueblo of 
Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico; Rosebud Sioux Tribe of 
the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota; Shoshone-Bannock Tribes 
of the Fort Hall Reservation; Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern 
Ute Reservation, Colorado; Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray 
Reservation, Utah; and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe have priority for 
disposition of the human remains or cultural item described in this 
notice.

Claims for Disposition

    Written claims for disposition of the human remains or cultural 
items in this notice must be sent to the appropriate official 
identified in this notice under ADDRESSES. If no claim for disposition 
is received by May 13, 2025, the human remains or cultural items in 
this notice will become unclaimed human remains or cultural items. 
Claims for disposition 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 they have priority for disposition. 
Disposition of the human remains or cultural items in this notice may 
occur on or after June 12, 2024. If competing claims for disposition 
are received, the Bureau of Land Management must determine the most 
appropriate claimant prior to disposition. Requests for joint 
disposition of the human remains or cultural items are considered a 
single request and not competing requests. The Bureau of Land 
Management is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the 
lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native

[[Page 41464]]

Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice and to any other 
consulting parties.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3002, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.7.

    Dated: May 3, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-10328 Filed 5-10-24; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P