Notice of Inventory Completion: Bureau of Land Management, Casper Field Office, Casper, WY, and University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 14059-14060 [2011-5861]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 15, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14059-14060]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5861]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Bureau of Land Management, Casper 
Field Office, Casper, WY, and University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land 
Management, Casper Field Office, has completed an inventory of human 
remains, in consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, and has 
determined that there is no cultural affiliation between the remains 
and any present-day Tribe. Representatives of any Indian Tribe that 
believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains may 
contact the Bureau of Land Management, Casper Field Office. Disposition 
of the human remains to the Indian Tribe stated below may occur if no 
additional requestors come forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian Tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the human remains should contact the Bureau 
of Land Management, Casper Field Office, at the address below by April 
14, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Ranel Stephenson Capron, Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming 
State Office (930), 5353 Yellowstone Rd., Cheyenne, WY 82009, telephone 
at (307) 775-6108 or e-mail Ranel_Capron@blm.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with 
provisions of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation 
Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the completion of an inventory of 
Native American human remains in the control of the U.S. Department of 
the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Casper Field Office, WY, and 
in the possession of the University of Wyoming, Human Remains 
Repository, Laramie, WY. The human remains were removed from two 
adjoining sites (48GA07 and 48GA48), in Goshen County, WY.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3) and 
43 CFR 10.11(d). The determinations in this notice are the sole 
responsibility of the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has 
control of the Native American human remains. The National Park Service 
is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of human remains was made by Bureau of Land 
Management professional staff in consultation with representatives of 
the Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; Assiniboine 
and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana; Cheyenne 
and Arapaho Tribes, Oklahoma; Crow Tribe of Montana; Northern Cheyenne 
Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana; Rosebud 
Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota; and the 
Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation, Utah (hereinafter 
referred to as ``The Tribes''). In addition, The Tribes have nominated 
and do not object to the Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, 
Wyoming, as the lead contact for disposition of the human remains.

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1963, human remains representing a minimum of nine individuals 
were removed from the Huntley-Table Mountain Site (48GO07), in Goshen 
County, WY. Numerous human skeletons were discovered during 
construction of a waterfowl pond by the Wyoming State Game and Fish 
Department, four miles west of Huntley, WY. The individuals were 
apparently buried close to each other in shallow graves or laid on the 
ground and covered with dirt in what may have been a mound-like 
configuration. Over 40 carloads of interested townspeople and souvenir 
collectors from as far away as Cheyenne, WY, and Scottsbluff, NE, 
converged upon the site almost immediately after the bones were 
discovered, taking human skeletal remains and grave goods. On September 
23, 1963, Dr. William Mulloy, University of Wyoming Anthropologist, and 
Dr. Paul McGrew, University of Wyoming Paleontologist, collected 
fragments of seven individuals that had been left by vandals. The 
general assemblage is highly fragmented, and includes the remains of 
three adult females, two adult males, one indeterminate adult, and one 
child. Subsequently in 1963, a skull from an adult male was given to 
Dr. Mulloy by Ted Miller of Gering, NE, which had been removed from the 
site. In 1994, additional fragmentary bone representing a minimum of 
one individual that had been collected from the site in 1963, was 
brought by Grant Willson of Cheyenne, WY, to the university. The human 
remains are curated at the University of Wyoming Human Remains 
Repository. No known individuals were identified. No associated 
funerary objects are present.
    In 1963, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from the Table Mountain Fence Site (48GO48), in Goshen 
County, WY. The remains, which consist of a skull, were found and 
collected by Grant Willson of Cheyenne, WY, while hiking in the 
vicinity of the Huntley-Table Mountain burial site. Willson gave the 
skull to Dr. George Gill,

[[Page 14060]]

University of Wyoming Anthropologist, who brought it to the university 
in 1986. The human remains are curated at the University of Wyoming 
Human Remains Repository. No known individual was identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.

Determinations Made by the Bureau of Land Management, Casper Field 
Office

    Officials of the Bureau of Land Management, Casper Field Office, 
have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains represent 
10 individuals of Native American ancestry, based on archeological and 
radiocarbon evidence. However, based on this information and other 
available lines of evidence, a relationship of shared group identity 
can not be reasonably traced to any specific Federally-recognized 
Indian Tribe.
     The Native American human remains were removed from the 
land determined to be the aboriginal land of the Arapahoe Tribe of the 
Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Oklahoma; 
and Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian 
Reservation, Montana, according to the Indian Claims Commission Docket 
329A-D, and illustrated on the ``Indian Land Areas Judicially 
Established,'' prepared by the United States Geological Survey in 1989, 
which is based on information provided by the Indian Claims Commission.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), a relationship of shared 
group identity cannot be reasonably traced between the Native American 
human remains and any present-day Indian Tribe.
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1), the disposition is to the 
Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any Indian Tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains or any other Indian Tribe 
that believes it satisfies the criteria in 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1) should 
contact Ranel Stephenson Capron, Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming 
State Office (930), 5353 Yellowstone Rd., Cheyenne, WY 82009, telephone 
at (307) 775-6108 or e-mail Ranel_Capron@blm.gov, before April 14, 
2011. Disposition of the human remains to the Arapahoe Tribe of the 
Wind River Reservation, Wyoming, may proceed after that date and if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    The Bureau of Land Management is responsible for notifying The 
Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: March 9, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-5861 Filed 3-14-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P