Notice2025-04370
Notice of Inventory Completion: The University of Tennessee, Department of Anthropology, Knoxville, TN, and Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, KS
Primary source
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Published
March 18, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), The University of Tennessee, Department of Anthropology (UTK) and the Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS) have 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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 51 (Tuesday, March 18, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 51 (Tuesday, March 18, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12558-12559]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-04370]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0039483; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: The University of Tennessee,
Department of Anthropology, Knoxville, TN, and Kansas State Historical
Society, Topeka, KS
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 University of Tennessee, Department of
Anthropology (UTK) and the Kansas State Historical Society (KSHS) have
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 April 17, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Dr. Ellen Lofaro, University of Tennessee, Office of
Repatriation, 5723 Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville, TN 37921-6053,
telephone (865) 974-3370, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#442a25233436250431302f6a212031"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="137d7274636172536667783d767766">[email protected]</span></a>, and Dr. Nicole
Klarmann, Kansas State Historical Society, 6425 SW 6th Ave., Topeka, KS
66615, telephone (785) 272-8681, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c9a2baa1bae7a7a8aeb9bba889a2bae7aea6bf"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="08637b607b2666696f787a6948637b266f677e">[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 UTK
and KSHS, 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, four individuals have been
identified. The 66 associated funerary objects include animal bones, a
bone tool, a hearthstone fragment, metal, pottery sherds, points,
worked stone, stone flakes, and a glass fragment, as well as two lots
of faunal remains, one lot of lithics, and one lot of soil. This burial
site (14MD401) is located in Meade County, KS along a bluff on the
south side of Crooked Creek (UBS 1989-38). The burials were excavated
in the 1960s by William Bass, Leon Deckert, and local individuals who
initially found remains naturally eroding in the area. Bass kept some
of the remains from this site and also gave some of the remains to
Deckert, who later donated the remains to KSHS in 1988. Based on a past
pattern of practice, Bass likely brought some of the remains and
associated funerary objects to UTK when he began working there in 1971.
To our knowledge, no known hazardous substances were used to treat any
of the remains or associated funerary objects.
Through Tribal consultation, this individual was identified as
culturally affiliated with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Oklahoma,
based off the following types of information: expert opinion,
geographical information, historical information, and oral tradition.
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.
[[Page 12559]]
Determinations
KSHS and UTK have determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of four individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> The 66 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.
<bullet> There is a reasonable connection between the human remains
and associated funerary objects described in this notice and the
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, 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 a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian
organization.
Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after April 17, 2025. If
competing requests for repatriation are received, UTK and KSHS 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. UTK and KSHS are 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: February 4, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-04370 Filed 3-17-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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