[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 40 (Wednesday, February 28, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14712-14713]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04095]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037481; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: State University of New York 
Potsdam, Department of Anthropology, Potsdam, NY

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the State University of New York Potsdam 
(SUNY Potsdam), Department of Anthropology, 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 St. Lawrence County, NY.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after March 29, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Hadley Kruczek-Aaron, SUNY Potsdam, Department of 
Anthropology, 44 Pierrepont Avenue,

[[Page 14713]]

Potsdam, NY 13676, telephone (315) 267-2072, email 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2c475e594f5649444a6c5c43585f484d4102494859"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f19a8384928b949997b1819e858295909cdf949584">[email protected]</span></a>.

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 
SUNY Potsdam, Department of Anthropology. 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 SUNY Potsdam, Department of Anthropology.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed 
from St. Lawrence County, NY. In the summer of 1979, SUNY Potsdam 
archeologist Garrett Cook conducted an archeology field school at the 
so-called Lee site, which has been dated to the Early and Middle 
Woodland periods. The excavation took place largely in what had become 
a highly disturbed plow zone. During the excavation, no intact burial 
was discerned and, owing to their highly fragmentary condition, human 
bones were not differentiated from animal bones. Nevertheless, Cook 
suspected that burials lay nearby and, as a result, he ceased the 
excavation. The excavated assemblage from the Lee site became part of 
the SUNY Potsdam archeological collections. After realizing that there 
were human remains and associated funerary objects in this assemblage, 
in the spring of 2022, current SUNY Potsdam archeologists initiated the 
NAGPRA inventory process. The 42 associated funerary objects are one 
popeyed birdstone, three Meadowood cache blades, three Meadowood 
bifaces, two chert bifaces (one of them glued), one triangular chert 
biface, one medial chert biface, four proximal biface fragments, one 
partial groundstone axe (partially glued), one drill fragment, one 
quartz projectile point, one possible Meadowood projectile point, one 
distal biface fragment (possibly Meadowood), one proximal biface 
fragment (possibly Meadowood), six small projectile points (mostly 
chert), one ovate projectile point, eight scrapers, one soapstone bead, 
one bone pottery decorating tool, one antler tine, one lot consisting 
of miscellaneous lithics (mostly debitage; N = 2,739), one lot 
consisting of ceramic sherds (some glued; N = 1,499 fragments), and one 
lot consisting of faunal remains (N = 655 fragments).

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: geographical and oral traditional.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the SUNY Potsdam, Department of Anthropology has 
determined that:
    <bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
    <bullet> The 42 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.
    <bullet> 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 Oneida Indian 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 29, 2024. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the SUNY Potsdam 
Department of Anthropology 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 SUNY Potsdam Department of 
Anthropology is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the 
Indian Tribe identified in this notice.
    This notice was submitted before the effective date of the revised 
regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 12, 
2024). 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 20, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-04095 Filed 2-27-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P


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