Notice2025-23378
Notice of Inventory Completion: Office of the State Archaeologist, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
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
December 19, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Office of the State Archaeologist Bioarchaeology Program (OSA BP) 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
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 242 (Friday, December 19, 2025)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 242 (Friday, December 19, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59552-59553]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-23378]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6665; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041570; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Office of the State
Archaeologist, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Office of the State Archaeologist
Bioarchaeology Program (OSA BP) 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 January 20, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
in this notice to Dr. Lara Noldner, Office of the State Archaeologist
Bioarchaeology Program, University of Iowa, 700 S Clinton Street, Iowa
City, IA 52242, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2b474a594a064544474f454e596b5e42445c4a054e4f5e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="bfd3decdde92d1d0d3dbd1dacdffcad6d0c8de91dadbca">[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
OSA BP 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
Based on the information available, human remains representing, at
least, seven individuals have been reasonably identified. No associated
funerary objects are present. The human remains were transferred to the
OSA BP in March of 2024 by Kansas State University professor, Mike
Finnegan. The original burial location of the remains is unknown as
Finnegan excavated throughout Iowa. The taphonomic conditions of the
human remains do however suggest an original burial location in the
Loess Hills of Western Iowa. Two partial crania represent two adult
males and commingled remains represent a minimum of three adults, with
two identified as males. The commingled remains also include a minimum
of two juveniles, an 8-to-12 year old and a 12-to-15 year-old (BP3859).
No hazardous substances have been used to treat the human remains.
Based on the information available, human remains representing, at
least, one individual has been reasonably identified. No associated
funerary objects are present. At an unknown time, a partial cranium was
recovered on a sandbar from an unspecified river in western Iowa and
brought to Mark Anderson at the Sanford Museum in Cherokee Iowa.
Anderson transferred the remains to the OSA BP in December of 2024. The
partial cranium represents an older adult male individual. The human
remains have taphonomic evidence of long-term inundation in water; the
original burial location is unknown (BP3922). No hazardous substances
have been used to treat the human remains.
Based on the information available, human remains representing at
least one individual have been reasonably identified. No associated
funerary objects are present. In February 2025 a right ulna was
identified during an inventory of the Paul Rowe collection, known to
largely be from sites in western Iowa, and transferred to the OSA BP
(BP3935). The partial right ulna is represented by the distal portion
and the midshaft. A faint line at the distal epiphysis indicates fusion
completed only recently and that the individual was a young adult. The
original burial location is unknown but was likely in Mills County,
Iowa as Paul Rowe collected and documented Native American sites
throughout the county from the 1920s to the 1960s. No
[[Page 59553]]
hazardous substances have been used to treat the human remains.
Based on the information available, human remains representing at
least one individual have been reasonably identified. No associated
funerary objects are present. In July of 2024 kayakers identified the
human remains on a sand bar in the East Nishnabotna River in
Pottawattamie County, Iowa. The Pottawattamie County Sheriff's office
first handled the investigation and sent the human remains to the Iowa
State Medical Examiner's Office where they were determined not of
medicolegal significance. The human remains were transferred to the OSA
BP in February of 2025. A young to middle-aged adult female is
represented by a partial cranium with evidence of long-term inundation
and river transport. The original burial location is unknown as the
human remains had been displaced by river erosion; the location in
which they were found is documented as 13PW402 in the Iowa Site File
(BP3936). No hazardous substances have been used to treat the human
remains.
Based on the information available, human remains representing, at
least one individual have been reasonably identified. No associated
funerary objects are present. In August of 2024 human remains were
discovered on a sandbar in the Little Sioux River in Woodbury County.
After Woodbury County police sent the human remains to the Iowa State
Medical Examiner (24-07558) they were determined to be of ancient
context and transferred to the OSA in February 2025. Dark cortical
coloration and taphonomic rounding of exposed sutures and broken
surfaces indicates long term inundation and river transport. Site
13WD260 was assigned to the find spot; the individual's original burial
location is unknown. An adult male is represented by a partial cranium
(BP3937). No hazardous substances have been used to treat the human
remains.
Based on the information available, human remains representing at
least one individual have been reasonably identified. These human
remains were displaced from an unknown location by river erosion on the
Floyd River and discovered by a kayaker south of Merrill, IA. They were
reported to and recovered by the Plymouth County Sherriff's Office in
late August 2025. The human remains were transferred to the OSA
September 25, 2025. Dark cortical coloration and taphonomic rounding of
exposed sutures and broken surfaces indicates long term inundation and
river transport. Site 13PM286 was assigned to the find spot. An adult
female is represented by a partial cranium (BP3992). No hazardous
substances have been used to treat the human remains.
Cultural Affiliation
Based on the information available and the results of consultation,
cultural affiliation is reasonably identified by the geographical
location and acquisition history of the human remains described in this
notice.
Determinations
The OSA BP has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of 12 individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> There is a reasonable connection between the human remains
described in this notice and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the
Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota; Citizen Potawatomi Nation,
Oklahoma; Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota; Ho-Chunk Nation
of Wisconsin; Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska; Iowa Tribe of
Oklahoma; Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota; Miami
Tribe of Oklahoma; Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; Otoe-Missouria Tribe of
Indians, Oklahoma; Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma; Peoria Tribe of Indians
of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of
Nebraska; Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation; Prairie Island Indian
Community in the State of Minnesota; Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in
Kansas and Nebraska; Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahoma; Sac & Fox Tribe of the
Mississippi in Iowa; Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska; Sisseton-Wahpeton
Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota; Spirit Lake
Tribe, North Dakota; Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold
Reservation, North Dakota; Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota; Winnebago
Tribe of Nebraska; and the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota.
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 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 January 20, 2026. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the OSA BP 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. The OSA BP is 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: December 8, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-23378 Filed 12-18-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 19, 2025.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.