Notice2023-17134
Notice of Inventory Completion: Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Corporation, Indianapolis, IN
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
August 10, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites Corporation (ISMHS) has completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined that there is no cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects and any Indian Tribe. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Floyd County, IN.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 153 (Thursday, August 10, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 153 (Thursday, August 10, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54347-54348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-17134]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036328; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Indiana State Museum and Historic
Sites Corporation, Indianapolis, IN
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 Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites
Corporation (ISMHS) has completed an inventory of human remains and
associated funerary objects and has determined that there is no
cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary
objects and any Indian Tribe. The human remains and associated funerary
objects were removed from Floyd County, IN.
DATES: Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects
in this notice may occur on or after September 11, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Michele Greenan, Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites
Corporation, 650 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN 46204,
telephone (317) 473-0836, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#90fdf7e2f5f5fef1fed0f9fef4f9f1fef1fde5e3f5e5fdbeffe2f7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b2dfd5c0d7d7dcd3dcf2dbdcd6dbd3dcd3dfc7c1d7c7df9cddc0d5">[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 the
ISMHS. 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 the ISMHS.
Description
Human remains representing, at minimum, 99 individuals were removed
from Floyd County, IN. The site, identified as archeological site
12FL0073, is also referred to as the State Road 111 Slide Correction
Project (the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) project (DES
#1592476) that resulted in the 2021-2022 removal of human remains from
the site). Site 12FL0073 is a Middle-Late Archaic period site located
along the Ohio River in Southern Indiana. Diagnostic artifacts
associated with the site indicate a date range of approximately 4200
BCE through 1000 BCE, with limited evidence that it may extend earlier
to 6000 BCE. Two radiocarbon dates taken from the site, 5350+/- 130 BP
(3350 BCE) and 4950 +/-40 BP (2950 BCE), further validates a Middle-
Late Archaic period association.
Site 12FL0073 was first recorded in 1998, when human remains were
found eroding out of the riverbank. In 1998 and 1999, burial remains
were removed under Indiana Division of Historic Preservation and
Archaeology (DHPA) accidental discovery number AD 980013 (March 1998)
and accidental discovery AD 990032 (July 1999). Between 2001 and 2002,
an archeological project was carried out through the University of
Kentucky (UK) at the site. Researchers from the University of
Indianapolis (UINDY) were asked to assist with burial features and
human remains found during these projects. Following these projects,
the human remains and associated funerary objects were housed at UINDY
and UK. In 2015, the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) began
assessing site 12FL0073 as they addressed erosion occurring along the
bank of the Ohio River. This erosion was undermining State Road 111.
During these assessments, the severity of the erosion was understood,
and it was clear that other human remains at site 12FL0073 were in
immediate danger. In November 2020, INDOT contacted the ISMHS to help
facilitate NAGPRA compliance as they (working through outside
contractors) removed these burials. INDOT also requested that the ISMHS
include the human remains and associated funerary objects from the site
that were housed at the UK and UINDY for inclusion in the inventory.
The human remains and associated funerary objects housed at UK were
transferred to the ISMHS in May 2021. The human remains and associated
funerary objects housed at UINDY, which included the human remains
removed under the 1998 and 1999 accidental discovery numbers, were
transferred to ISMHS in September 2022. The human remains from the
INDOT project were transferred to ISMHS in two groups, one in May of
2021 and the second in late January 2023.
The human remains consist of individual burials and single skeletal
elements. The 211 associated funerary objects are 21 hafted bifaces, 21
bifaces, four scrapers, four flake tools, 16 cores, two hematite
pestles, two granitic axes, one sandstone bannerstone, six cannel coal
beads, two crinoid stem column beads, three sandstone pitted stones,
one hematite pitted stone, two granitic or quartzite hammerstones,
three granitic hammerstones, one core/tested cobble, one hematite
chopper, one bone
[[Page 54348]]
atlatl hook/spur, one bone atlatl tubular weight, one incised bone
drill, two bone pin fragments, one bone awl fragment, one polished bone
fragment, one granitic cobble tool, one lot consisting of unmodified
chert blocks, three lots consisting of red ochre particles, eight lots
consisting of hematite fragments, five lots consisting of slate
fragments, 32 lots consisting of flakes/shatter, one lot consisting of
siltstone fragments, four hematite manuports, four granite manuports,
one fire-cracked quartzite manuport, two rounded cobble manuports, one
limestone manuport, one slate manuport, one sandstone manuport, one
siltstone manuport, 25 lots consisting of non-human unburned bone
fragments, nine lots consisting of non-human burned bone fragments, one
lot consisting of indeterminant seeds, two lots consisting of burned
nutshell, four lots consisting of unmodified shell fragments, one lot
consisting of charcoal, three lots consisting of fire-cracked rocks,
and three lots consisting of unmodified pebbles.
Aboriginal Land
The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice
were removed from known geographic locations. These locations are the
aboriginal lands of one or more Indian Tribes. The following
information was used to identify the aboriginal land: a final judgment
of the Indian Claims Commission or the United States Court of Claims, a
treaty, an Act of Congress, or an Executive Order.
Determinations
Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, the ISMHS has
determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of 99 individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> The 211 objects described in this notice are reasonably
believed to have been placed with or near individual human remains at
the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony.
<bullet> No relationship of shared group identity can be reasonably
traced between the human remains and associated funerary objects and
any Indian Tribe.
<bullet> The human remains and associated funerary objects
described in this notice were removed from the aboriginal land of the
Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Delaware Nation,
Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of Indians; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma;
Miami Tribe of Oklahoma; Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Shawnee
Tribe; and The Osage Nation.
Requests for Disposition
Written requests for disposition of the human remains and
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for disposition
may be submitted by:
1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes 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, or who shows that the requestor is an aboriginal land
Indian Tribe.
Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects
described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after September
11, 2023. If competing requests for disposition are received, the ISMHS
must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to disposition.
Requests for joint disposition of the human remains and associated
funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing
requests. The ISMHS is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to
the Indian Tribes 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 and
10.11.
Dated: August 3, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-17134 Filed 8-9-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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