Notice2023-09770
Notice of Inventory Completion: Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
May 9, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
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. The human remains were removed from Ballard County, KY.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 89 (Tuesday, May 9, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 9, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29945-29946]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09770]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035822; 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. The human remains were removed
from Ballard County, KY.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or
after June 8, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Anne Marjenin, Mercyhurst University, 501 E 38th Street,
Erie, PA 16546, telephone (814) 824-2012, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f19f9096818390b19c948392889984838285df949584"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6907080e191b0829040c1b0a10011c1b1a1d470c0d1c">[email protected]</span></a>.
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. 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 Mercyhurst
University.
Description
Human remains representing, at minimum, three individuals were
removed from the Wickliffe Mounds Site (15Ba4) in Ballard County, KY.
The individuals (V-MAN-0009; V-MAN-0223; VM-026; V-MAN-0058; V-MAN-
0105; KY-BA-TIN-0001) were removed on an unknown date by Raymond C.
Vietzen (1907-1995). According to his accounts and descriptions,
Vietzen visited mounds in Wickliffe, Kentucky with Colonel and Mrs.
Fain King (Vietzen 1946:19). The collection location was reportedly
near ``Ancient Buried City'' and possibly King Mounds. Vietzen, an
avocational archeologist 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 human remains and items were transferred from
the Ohio Historical Society to Mercyhurst College (presently Mercyhurst
University). No known individuals were identified. No associated
funerary objects are present.
Cultural Affiliation
The human remains 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 or
Native Hawaiian organizations. The following types of information were
used to reasonably trace the relationship: geographical and historical.
Determinations
Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations, Mercyhurst University has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of three individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> There is a relationship of shared group identity that can
be reasonably traced between the human remains described in this notice
and The Chickasaw Nation.
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains 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 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 June 8, 2023. If competing requests for repatriation
are received, Mercyhurst University must determine
[[Page 29946]]
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 Tribe identified in this
notice.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, 10.10,
and 10.14.
Dated: May 3, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-09770 Filed 5-8-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 9, 2023.
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