[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 10 (Thursday, January 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4799-4800]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01014]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0039323; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Sam Noble Museum of Natural 
History, Norman, OK

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 Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural 
History (SNOMNH) 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.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after February 18, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Marc Levine, Associate Curator of Archaeology, Sam Noble 
Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma, 2401 
Chautauqua Avenue, Norman, OK 73072-7029, telephone (405) 325-1994, 
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 
SNOMNH, 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

    Human remains representing, at least, 281 individuals were removed 
from the Raymond Mackey site (34Lf29) in LeFlore County, OK. This site 
was excavated by the Works Progress Administration in 1940 and 
transferred to the Museum the same year. The human remains include 62 
adult females, 32 adult males, 21 adolescents, 25 children, two 
infants, one fetus, 60 probable adult females, 41 probable adult males, 
two females for whom age could not be determined, 18 adults for whom 
sex could not be determined, and 17 individuals for whom neither age 
nor sex could be determined. No known individuals were identified. The 
169 associated funerary objects are two potsherds, 39 projectile 
points, one projectile point fragment, three stone manos, two 
hammerstones, one stone hoe, one boatstone, six stone bifaces, seven 
bags of stone biface fragments, 17 paintstones, one worked stone, one 
stone flake, one unmodified piece of quartz, one partial dog skeleton, 
two bone awls, four bags of awl fragments, two bone beads, two bags of 
bone fish hook fragments, one bag of bone pin fragments, one worked 
deer antler, one worked deer ulna, three bags of worked animal bone, 14 
bags of deer antler fragments, 44 bags of animal bone fragments, two 
shell beads, one conch disc, six bags of mussel shell fragments, one 
snail shell, one burned nut, and one bag of ash. The human remains and 
associated funerary objects from site 34Lf29 were interred during the 
Woodland Period (300 B.C.-A.D. 900).

Cultural Affiliation

    Based on the information available and the results of consultation, 
cultural affiliation is clearly identified by the information available 
about the human remains and associated funerary objects described in 
this notice.

Determinations

    The SNOMNH has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 281 individuals were of Native American ancestry.
     The 169 objects 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.
     There is a connection between the human remains and 
associated funerary objects described in this notice and the Caddo 
Nation of Oklahoma and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, 
Keechi, Waco, & Tawakonie), Oklahoma.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects 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 an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with 
cultural affiliation.

[[Page 4800]]

    Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after February 18, 2025. 
If competing requests for repatriation are received, the SNOMNH 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 SNOMNH 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: January 6, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-01014 Filed 1-15-25; 8:45 am]
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