Notice2025-17629
Notice of Inventory Completion: The University of Tennessee, Department of Anthropology, Knoxville, TN
Primary source
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Published
September 12, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Department of Anthropology (UTK), 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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 175 (Friday, September 12, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 175 (Friday, September 12, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Page 44228]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-17629]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6500; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041041; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: The University of Tennessee,
Department of Anthropology, Knoxville, TN
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, Knoxville,
Department of Anthropology (UTK), 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.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or
after October 14, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
in this notice to Dr. Ellen Lofaro, University of Tennessee, Office of
Repatriation, 5723 Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville, TN 37921-6053, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#472926203735260732332c69222332"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="533d3234232132132627387d363726">[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 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.
Abstract of Information Available
Human remains representing, at least, 31 individuals have been
identified. No associated funerary objects are present. These
individuals were recovered from the Woodruff Ossuary site, 14PH4, in
Phillips County, Kansas, by J.M. Shippee and Martin F. Kivett of the
River Basin Surveys (RBS) and A.T. Hill of the Nebraska State
Historical Society between October 17th and November 11th, 1946. This
site dates to the Early Woodland Keith Phase in northern Kansas with a
radiocarbon dated range of 1343 +/-240 years BP or A.D. 611 +/-240.
These individuals were moved to the RBS laboratory in Lincoln,
Nebraska, and then transferred to the Smithsonian National Museum of
Natural History where William Bass examined them in 1957. These
individuals were either retained by Bass and brought with him when he
began working at UTK in 1971 or borrowed by him at a later date and not
returned. To our knowledge, no potentially hazardous substances have
been used to treat any of the Ancestral remains.
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 described in this notice.
Determinations
UTK has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of 31 individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> There is a connection between the human remains described
in this notice and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River
Reservation, South Dakota; Kaw Nation, Oklahoma; and the Pawnee Nation
of Oklahoma.
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains 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 an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with
cultural affiliation.
Repatriation of the human remains described in this notice to a
requestor may occur on or after October 14, 2025. If competing requests
for repatriation are received, UTK 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. UTK 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: August 29, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-17629 Filed 9-11-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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