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###### Department of the Interior

###### National Park Service

          - [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037462; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

# AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

# ACTION:

Notice.

# SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Ohio History Connection has completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from the Neilson Site (20-MR-501) in Monroe County, Michigan.

# DATES:

Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice may occur on or after March 27, 2024.

# ADDRESSES:

                        Nekole Alligood, NAGPRA Specialist, Ohio History Connection, 800 E. 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211, telephone (614) 297-2300, email                         *nalligood@ohiohistory.org.*

# 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 the Ohio History Connection. 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 the Ohio History Connection.

## Description

                    On an unknown date the 20 individuals were removed from the Neilson Site by a private collector and put on temporary loan to the University of Toledo for “study and analysis.” The University of Toledo described them as Culturally Unidentifiable Inventory in 1995. At some point, the individuals were returned to the private collector and on an unknown date, the individuals were transferred to the Firelands Archaeological Research Center (FARC). In 2021 FARC transferred the 20 individuals to Ohio History Connection. It was determined by the University of Toledo and Ohio                           ( print page 14096)                        History Connection in April 2023 that legal control of the 20 Ancestors lays with the Ohio History Connection. The 96 associated funerary objects are six pre-contact ceramic sherds along with faunal remains, debitage (stone flakes), charcoal, and debris from the soils.                

## Cultural Affiliation

The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice are connected to one or more identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures. There is a relationship of shared group identity between the identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures and one or more Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. The following types of information were used to reasonably trace the relationship: archeological information, geographical information, and indigenous knowledge from the consulting Tribes.

## Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, the Ohio History Connection has determined that:
    - The human remains described in this notice represent the physical remains of 20 individuals of Native American ancestry.
    - The 96 objects describe 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.
    - There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary objects described in this notice and the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin; Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan; Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana; Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin; Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan; Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan; Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan; Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan; Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation of Wisconsin; Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan; Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Michigan; Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana; Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan; Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan; Miami Tribe of Oklahoma; Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota (Six component reservations: Bois Forte Band (Nett Lake); Fond du Lac Band; Grand Portage Band; Leech Lake Band; Mille Lacs Band; White Earth Band); Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan; Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma; Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians; Michigan and Indiana; Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation; Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota; Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska; Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahoma; Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa; Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan; Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan; Seneca Nation of Indians; Seneca-Cayuga Nation; Shawnee Tribe; Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Wisconsin; St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Tonawanda Band of Seneca; Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota; and the Wyandotte Nation.

## Requests for Repatriation

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

1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations 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.

Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after March 27, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Ohio History Connection must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing requests. The Ohio History Connection is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice.

                    This notice was submitted after the effective date of the revised regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 12, 2024) but in the older format. As the notice conforms to the mandatory format of the                     **Federal Register**                     and includes the required information, the National Park Service is publishing this notice as submitted.                

*Authority:*                     Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.                

Dated: February 16, 2024.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program. 

[FR Doc. 2024-03804 Filed 2-23-24; 8:45 am]

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