[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 14, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20498-20500]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-08477]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0040123; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Michigan State Police, Dimondale, 
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 State Police has completed an 
inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has 
determined that there is no lineal descendant and no Indian Tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization with cultural affiliation.

DATES: Upon request, repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects in this notice may occur on or after June 13, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Hanna Friedlander, Forensic Anthropologist, Michigan State 
Police, Intelligence Operations Division--Missing Persons Coordination 
Unit, 7150 Harris Drive, Dimondale, MI 48821, telephone (517) 242-5731, 
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 State Police, and additional information on the determinations 
in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in 
its inventory or related records. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations in this notice.

[[Page 20499]]

Abstract of Information Available

    Human remains representing, at least, 10 individuals have been 
identified. The 194 possible associated funerary objects include stone/
flint fragments, pottery fragments, wood pieces, and one non-human 
bone. On April 10, 2007, human remains, and other grave objects were 
found in an apartment in Warren, MI, by the tenant's ex-wife. The box 
was labelled ``Native American skulls,'' and turned over to the Warren 
Police Department (Case Number 07-18811), and then the Macomb County 
Medical Examiner in 2007 (Case Number 07-21845). The remains and 
associated artifacts were sent to the Michigan State University, where 
they were assessed by Dr. Norm Sauer, and determined to be Native 
American (Case Numbers assigned and listed are FA-017-07, FA-018-07, 
FA-019-07). FORDISC and cranial assessments were used to make this 
determination. It was noted some of the remains had been glued together 
by the apartment tenant. Other remains had tags with catalogue or item 
numbers on them, and some remains were written on with ink, including 
one skull with the words ``Indian Mound Tenn.'' There is a minimum 
number of 10 individuals noted, with one subadult (the rest, adults). 
The box was sent back to the Macomb County Medical Examiner, where it 
sat until February 10, 2025, when the Michigan State Police (MSP) 
Forensic Anthropologist was notified to assist with the repatriation. 
Subsequently, Ms. Hanna Friedlander collected the human remains and 
transferred them to temporary holding at the Michigan State Police 
Headquarters in Dimondale, MI. No known individuals were identified. 
There are an additional 14 items, which include one lot of concrete 
pieces, one lot of toothpicks/matchsticks, a screw, and one lot of ID 
tags (``Scott's Store'') located with the remains and objects. Some of 
the skeletal elements were written on with ink or pencil; some have 
been glued together by the individual who ``collected'' the remains 
initially. The Michigan State Police are unaware of any hazardous 
substances being used to treat the human remains or associated funeral 
objects.

Consultation

    Invitations to consult were sent to the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of 
Indians, Oklahoma; Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of 
Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin; Bay Mills 
Indian Community, Michigan; Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's 
Reservation, Montana; Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware 
Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of Indians; Forest County Potawatomi 
Community, Wisconsin; Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa 
Indians, Michigan; Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan; 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 Traverse Bay Band of 
Odawa Indians, Michigan; Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Potawatomi 
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; 
Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma; Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Pokagon 
Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana; Prairie Band 
Potawatomi Nation; Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, 
California & Arizona; Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians 
of Wisconsin; Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota; Sac & Fox 
Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska; Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahoma; 
Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa; Saginaw Chippewa Indian 
Tribe of Michigan; Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, 
Michigan; Seneca Nation of Indians; Seneca-Cayuga Nation; Shawnee 
Tribe; Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Wisconsin; St. Croix Chippewa 
Indians of Wisconsin; Tonawanda Band of Seneca; Turtle Mountain Band of 
Chippewa Indians of North Dakota; and the Wyandotte Nation.
    The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan; Saginaw 
Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan; and the Wyandotte Nation requested 
consultation.

Cultural Affiliation

    The following types of information about the cultural affiliation 
of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice are 
available: geographical.
    The information, including the results of consultation, identified:
    1. No earlier group connected to the human remains or associated 
funerary object.
    2. The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan as an Indian Tribe 
connected to the human remains and associated funerary objects.
    3. No relationship of shared group identity between the earlier 
group and the Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization that can be 
reasonably traced through time.

Determinations

    The Michigan State University has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 10 individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 194 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.
     No known lineal descendant who can trace ancestry to the 
human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice has been 
identified.
     No Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with 
cultural affiliation to the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice has been clearly or reasonably identified.

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 any lineal descendant, 
Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization 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.
    Upon request, repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects described in this notice may occur on or after June 
13, 2025. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the 
Michigan State Police 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 Michigan State Police is responsible 
for sending a copy of this notice to any consulting lineal descendant, 
Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25

[[Page 20500]]

U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.

    Dated: April 30, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-08477 Filed 5-13-25; 8:45 am]
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