[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 62 (Monday, April 2, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15724-15725]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-5972]


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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 southeastern Colorado.
    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

[[Page 15725]]

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 Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and Northern 
Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana.
    On an unknown date, human remains representing a minimum of one 
individual were removed from Mud Creek, a branch of the Purgatoire 
River in southeastern Colorado in or near Bent County, CO, by a soldier 
named Lance. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary 
objects are present.
    Information recorded on the human remains indicates that in 1866 or 
1869, a party of Cheyenne Indians was hunting in a small canyon on Mud 
Creek and they were ambushed by a party of Ute Indians. Several of the 
Cheyenne Indians were killed. The bodies were buried near the creek, 
and some years later, flood waters cut back the bank and exposed some 
of the skeletons. Lance, a soldier stationed nearby, collected a 
cranium. The cranium was given to his friend, David J. Burnett. On June 
17, 1962, Mr. Burnett's daughter, Mrs. Ethel Burnett Zeigler, donated 
the cranium to the University of Colorado Museum (Catalog number 
99410).
    Based on the morphology of the teeth and cranium, the human remains 
represent a Native American adult male. Based on museum records, the 
human remains are Cheyenne. Descendants of the Cheyenne are members of 
the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and Northern Cheyenne Tribe of 
the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana.
    Officials of the University of Colorado Museum have determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains described 
above represent the physical remains of one individual 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 Cheyenne-Arapaho 
Tribes of Oklahoma and Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne 
Indian Reservation, 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 May 2, 2007. Repatriation of the human remains 
to the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and Northern Cheyenne Tribe 
of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana may proceed after 
that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The University of Colorado Museum is responsible for notifying the 
Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the 
Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: March 6, 2007
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-5972 Filed 3-30-07; 8:45 am]
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