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###### Department of the Interior

###### National Park Service

          - [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037051; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

# AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

# ACTION:

Notice.

# SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Kansas State University has completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined that there is no cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects and any Indian Tribe. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Geary County, KS.

# DATES:

Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice may occur on or after January 12, 2024.

# ADDRESSES:

                        Megan Williamson, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Kansas State University, 204 Waters Hall, 1603 Old Claflin Place, Manhattan, KS 66506-4003, telephone (785) 532-6005, email                         *mwillia1@ksu.edu.*

# 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 Kansas State University. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice. Additional information on the determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the inventory or related records held by Kansas State University.

## Description

Human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals were removed from Ruhnke Mound, 14GE605, in Geary County, KS. In September of 1980, Dr. Patricia J. O'Brien of Kansas State University conducted a one-day excavation at this site. The resulting assemblage was processed by Dr. O'Brien and then removed to the archaeology laboratory at Kansas State University for analysis, reporting, and curation, where it has since remained. The human remains were extremely fragmented. The 12 associated funerary objects are one lot consisting of wood fragments (approximately 17 pieces), one nutshell fragment, one lot consisting of miscellaneous seeds, one gastropod shell, one fragment of leather, one stone tool, two bifaces, one lot consisting of stone debitage (approximately 115 pieces), two stone cores, and one lot consisting of unworked rocks (approximately 109 pieces).

## Aboriginal Land

The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice were removed from a known geographic location. This location is the aboriginal lands of one or more Indian Tribes. The following information was used to identify the aboriginal land: treaties.

## Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, Kansas State University has determined that:
    - The human remains described in this notice represent the physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
    - The 12 objects described in this notice are reasonably believed to have been placed with or near individual human remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony.
    - No relationship of shared group identity can be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary objects and any Indian Tribe.
    - The human remains and associated funerary objects described in this notice were removed from the aboriginal land of the Kaw Nation, Oklahoma; Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma; The Osage Nation; Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota; and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco, & Tawakonie), Oklahoma.

## Requests for Disposition

                    Written requests for disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in                     **ADDRESSES.**                     Requests for disposition may be submitted by:                

1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes 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, or who shows that the requestor is an aboriginal land Indian Tribe.

Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after January 12, 2024. If competing requests for disposition are received, Kansas State University must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to disposition. Requests for joint disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing requests. Kansas State University is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes identified in this notice.

*Authority:*                     Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9 and 10.11.                

Dated: December 6, 2023.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program. 

[FR Doc. 2023-27365 Filed 12-12-23; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4312-52-P