FR Doc 2010-12272[Federal Register: May 21, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 98)]
[Notices]               
[Page 28647-28648]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21my10-112]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

 
Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Colorado Museum, 
Boulder, CO

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains in the possession of the 
University of Colorado Museum, Boulder, CO. The human remains were 
removed from Meagher County, MT.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3). 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.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by University 
of Colorado Museum professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian 
Reservation of Montana; Crow Tribe of Montana; Fort Belknap Indian 
Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana; and Three 
Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota.
    Possibly in 1905, human remains representing a minimum of two 
individuals were removed from Musselshell River, Meagher County, MT, 
possibly by Ralph Hubbard. One of the individuals appears to have 
sustained three gun-shot wounds. No known individuals were identified. 
No associated funerary objects are present.
    Previously, human remains representing seven individuals from 
Meagher County, MT, were identified in the museum's Culturally 
Unidentifiable Human Remains Inventory (dated May 16, 1996). After 
consultation, human remains representing five individuals with two 
associated funerary objects from ``in a butte (``Sentinal [sic] 
Rock''), Meagher County, MT,'' were determined

[[Page 28648]]

to be culturally affiliated with the Blackfeet Tribe, Crow Tribe, Fort 
Belknap Indian Community, and Three Affiliated Tribes (73 FR 8359-8360, 
February 13, 2008), and subsequently repatriated to the Blackfeet 
Tribe. The museum believed at that time that it had accounted for all 
of the human remains from Montana, and that the number of individuals 
listed in the Culturally Unidentifiable Human Remains Inventory was an 
error. However, on June 16, 2009, human remains representing two 
individuals from ``Musselshell R., Montana'' were found in the museum. 
This now accounts for all seven individuals originally listed in the 
inventory.
    Based on biological evidence, the human remains are probably Native 
American. Based on geographic evidence, including Indian Land Claims 
Commission decisions and oral tradition, the human remains are 
reasonably believed to be Blackfeet, Crow, Gros Ventre, or Assiniboine. 
The Gros Ventre and the Assiniboine are Federally-recognized as the 
Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of 
Montana. The Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap 
Reservation of Montana confirmed that the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine 
ranged through the Meagher County area mainly in the form of hunting 
and war parties. Based on oral tradition Crow Nations migrated through 
this area seasonally.
    Officials of the University of Colorado Museum have determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described above 
represent the physical remains of two individuals of Native American 
ancestry. Officials of the University of Colorado Museum also have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship 
of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
Native American human remains and the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet 
Indian Reservation of Montana, Crow Tribe of Montana, and Fort Belknap 
Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Steve 
Lekson, Curator of Anthropology, University of Colorado Museum, 
Henderson Building, Campus Box 218, Boulder, CO 80309-0218, telephone 
(303) 492-6671, before June 21, 2010. Repatriation of the human remains 
to the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, 
Crow Tribe of Montana, and Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort 
Belknap Reservation of Montana, may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    The University of Colorado Museum is responsible for notifying the 
Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana; Crow 
Tribe of Montana; Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap 
Reservation of Montana; and Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort 
Berthold Reservation, North Dakota that this notice has been published.

    Dated: May 6, 2010.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2010-12272 Filed 5-20-10; 8:45 am]
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