[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 164 (Friday, August 23, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68200-68201]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-18956]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0038572; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Mercyhurst University has completed an 
inventory of human remains and has determined that there is a cultural 
affiliation between the human remains and Indian Tribes or Native 
Hawaiian organizations in this notice.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or 
after September 23, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Anne Marjenin, Mercyhurst University, 501 E 38th Street, 
Erie, PA 16546, telephone (814) 824-2012, 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 
Mercyhurst University, and additional information on the determinations 
in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in 
the inventory or related records. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

    Based on the information available, human remains representing, at 
least, one individual have been reasonably identified. No associated 
funerary objects are present. On an unknown date, the individual (IN-
zUNK-TIN-0001) was removed from an unknown geographic location in 
Indiana. On an unknown date, the individual was obtained by Raymond C. 
Vietzen (1907-1995). Vietzen, an avocational archaeologist, collector, 
and author, established the Indian Ridge Museum in Elyria, Ohio, and 
the Archaeological Society of Ohio (formerly the Ohio Indian Relic 
Collectors Society). The Indian Ridge Museum, founded in the 1930s, 
served as Vietzen's laboratory and repository, and it remained in 
operation until the mid-1990s. After Vietzen's death, the facility fell 
into disrepair, and most of the items he had acquired and housed at the 
museum were sold. In 1998, the Ohio Historical Society (presently the 
Ohio History Connection) removed ancestral human remains and some of 
the remaining items from the facility and temporarily housed them at 
the Ohio Historical Society. In October of 2003, these remains were 
transferred from the Ohio Historical Society to Mercyhurst College 
(presently Mercyhurst University).
    While there is no record regarding potentially hazardous substances 
having been used to treat the human remains, an unidentified adhesive 
or lacquer is present. It is unknown when the substance was applied.

Cultural Affiliation

    Based on the information available and the results of consultation, 
cultural affiliation is reasonably identified by the geographical 
location or acquisition history of the human remains described in this 
notice.

[[Page 68201]]

Determinations

    Mercyhurst University has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
     There is a reasonable connection between the human remains 
described in this notice and the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of 
Oklahoma; Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians 
of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin; Bay Mills Indian Community, 
Michigan; Cayuga Nation; Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's 
Reservation, Montana; Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma; Crow Creek 
Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation, South Dakota; Delaware 
Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of Indians; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of 
Oklahoma; Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota; Forest County 
Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin; Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and 
Chippewa Indians, Michigan; Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan; Kaw 
Nation, Oklahoma; Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan; Kickapoo 
Traditional Tribe of Texas; Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the Kickapoo 
Reservation in Kansas; Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma; Lac Courte Oreilles 
Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Lac du Flambeau 
Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau 
Reservation of Wisconsin; Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior 
Chippewa Indians of Michigan; Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, 
Michigan; Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana; Little 
Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan; Lower Sioux Indian 
Community in the State of Minnesota; Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of 
Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan; Miami Tribe of Oklahoma; Minnesota 
Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota (Six component reservations: Bois Forte Band 
(Nett Lake); Fond du Lac Band; Grand Portage Band; Leech Lake Band; 
Mille Lacs Band; White Earth Band); Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the 
Potawatomi, Michigan; Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; Oneida Indian Nation; 
Oneida Nation; Onondaga Nation; Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma; Peoria Tribe 
of Indians of Oklahoma; Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan 
and Indiana; Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of 
Nebraska; Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation; Prairie Island Indian 
Community in the State of Minnesota; Quapaw Nation; Red Cliff Band of 
Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Red Lake Band of Chippewa 
Indians, Minnesota; Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan; Saint 
Regis Mohawk Tribe; Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska; Sault Ste. Marie 
Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan; Seneca Nation of Indians; Seneca-
Cayuga Nation; Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota; 
Shawnee Tribe; Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Wisconsin; St. Croix 
Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin; 
The Osage Nation; Tonawanda Band of Seneca; Turtle Mountain Band of 
Chippewa Indians of North Dakota; Tuscarora Nation; United Keetoowah 
Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma; Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota; 
Wyandotte Nation; and the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains in this 
notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified in this 
notice under 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 in this notice to a requestor may 
occur on or after September 23, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, Mercyhurst University must determine the 
most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint 
repatriation of the human remains are considered a single request and 
not competing requests. Mercyhurst University is responsible for 
sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.

    Dated: August 15, 2024.
Mariah Soriano,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-18956 Filed 8-22-24; 8:45 am]
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