[Federal Register: April 9, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 68)]
[Notices]
[Page 18505-18506]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09ap01-90]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

Notice of Inventory Completion for Native American Human Remains
and Associated Funerary Objects in the Control of the U.S. Department
of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Eastern Colorado Area Office,
Loveland, CO

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is hereby given in accordance with provisions of the Native
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 43 CFR 10.9,
of the completion of an inventory of human

[[Page 18506]]

remains and associated funerary objects in the control of the U.S.
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Eastern Colorado
Area Office, Loveland, CO.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 43 CFR 10.2 (c). The
determinations within this notice are the sole responsibility of the
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of these Native
American human remains and associated funerary objects. The National
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations within this
notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by Bureau of
Reclamation, Eastern Colorado Area Office professional staff in
consultation with representatives of the Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind
River Reservation, Wyoming; Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; and
the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian
Reservation, Montana.
    In December 2000, the Bureau of Reclamation, Eastern Colorado Area
Office presented a disposition proposal to the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Review Committee to repatriate culturally
unidentifiable human remains in its control to the Arapahoe Tribe of
the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of
Oklahoma; and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne
Indian Reservation, Montana. On Januray 23, 2001, the Assistant
Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships, writing on
behalf of the Secretary of the Interior, informed the Bureau of
Reclamation that the review committee concurred with the disposition
proposal at the review committee's December 2000 meeting. The letter
confirmed that concurrence.
    In 1982, during a cultural resources compliance survey of lands
managed by Bureau of Reclamation, four bone fragments representing the
human remains of one individual were recovered from the surface of
archeological site 5LR42 near Dam #1 at Carter Lake, CO. In 1992, a
human burial was inadvertently discovered eroding from the hillside
near the same location. After consultation with potentially affiliated
tribes, intentional excavations were undertaken by Native Cultural
Services of Boulder, CO, under contract to the Bureau of Reclamation.
The human remains from that burial were evaluated by professional
physical anthropologist Robert J. Mutaw, who determined that they
represented one individual.
    Both sets of human remains were curated originally at the
Anthropology Museum, University of Colorado in Boulder, CO. In 1998,
they were transferred to the National Park Service's Rocky Mountain
National Park in 1998, and in January 2001, the human remains from both
the 1982 and 1992 discoveries were returned to the Anthropology Museum,
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, to be held until repatriation or
disposition occurs. For the human remains recovered in 1982, which are
the subject of this Notice of Inventory Completion, no known individual
was identified and no associated funerary objects are present. The
human remains recovered in 1992 are the subject of a separate Notice of
Disposition.
    Examination of the skeletal elements recovered from the site in
1982 and 1992 indicates that the human remains recovered at the two
different times are from the same individual. Evaluation of
archeological evidence and ethnographic burial practices indicates that
the human remains are those of a Native American of prehistoric age.
The site was occupied or used during the Middle Archaic period and
again during the Late Archaic/Early Ceramic period; no historic
materials were recovered. Because there were no associated funerary
objects, it is not possible to determine at what date during the
prehistoric period the individual was buried.
    Based on the above-mentioned information, officials of the Bureau
of Reclamation have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d) (1),
the human remains listed above represent the physical remains of one
individual of Native American ancestry. Officials of the Bureau of
Reclamation also have determined that there is no relationship of
shared group identity that can reasonably be traced between these human
remains and any present-day Indian tribe or group. In accordance with
the recommendation of the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Review Committee, the disposition of these remains will be
to the following tribes with aboriginal ties to the area in which the
remains were recovered: the Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River
Reservation, Wyoming; Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; and the
Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation,
Montana.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Arapahoe Tribe of the
Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma;
Comanche Indian Tribe, Oklahoma; Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River
Reservation, Wyoming; Jicarilla Apache Tribe of the Jicarilla Apache
Indian Reservation, New Mexico; the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the
Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana; Southern Ute Indian
Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado; and the Ute Mountain
Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah.
Representatives of any other tribe that believes itself to be
culturally affiliated with these human remains should contact Will
Tully, Environmental Specialist, Bureau of Reclamation, Eastern
Colorado Area Office, 11056 West County Road 18 E, Loveland, CO 80537,
telephone (970) 962-4368, before May 9, 2001. Repatriation of these
human remains to the Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River Reservation,
Wyoming; Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; and the Northern Cheyenne
Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana may begin
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.

    Dated: March 21, 2001.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships.
[FR Doc. 01-8680 Filed 4-6-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F