Notice2024-04669
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
March 6, 2024
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 Crawford County, AR.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 45 (Wednesday, March 6, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16016-16017]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04669]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037541; 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
[[Page 16017]]
in this notice. The human remains were removed from Crawford County,
AR.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or
after April 5, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Anne Marjenin, Mercyhurst University, 501 E 38th Street,
Erie, PA 16546, telephone (814) 824-2012, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#56383731262437163b3324352f3e2324252278333223"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="731d1214030112331e1601100a1b060100075d161706">[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, one individual were removed
from Crawford County, AR. The individual (VM-079) was collected on an
unknown date and was obtained by Raymond C. Vietzen (1907-1995).
Vietzen, an avocational archeologist, 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 human remains
and items were transferred from the Ohio Historical Society to
Mercyhurst College (presently Mercyhurst University). 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, linguistics,
and oral tradition.
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 one individual 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 Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and The Osage 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 April 5, 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 identified in this notice.
This notice was submitted before the effective date of the revised
regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 12,
2024). As the notice conforms to the mandatory format of the Federal
Register and includes the required information, the National Park
Service is publishing this notice as submitted.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.
Dated: February 27, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-04669 Filed 3-5-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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