[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 186 (Tuesday, September 27, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56484-56485]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-19266]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of 
the Interior, National Park Service, Homestead National Monument of 
America, Beatrice, NE

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. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate cultural items in the possession of the U.S. Department 
of the Interior, National Park Service, Homestead National Monument of 
America, Beatrice, NE, that meet the definition of ``unassociated 
funerary objects'' under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 
superintendent, Homestead National Monument of America.
    The first two items are a string of ten beads and an arrowhead. The 
catalog card states that the beads came from a burial ground on the 
White Mountain Reservation in Arizona in 1898. A catalog card 
accompanying the beads states that they were donated to the Beatrice 
Museum by Paul S. Mayerhoff. Park museum records state that the string 
of ten beads and the arrowhead came into the park collection from an 
unknown source in 1964. However, the monument staff believe that they 
were in fact donated as part of the Mayerhoff-Dietz collection that was 
donated in 1948 and cataloged in 1989.
    The third item is a set of 224 beads strung together on a wire. 
These beads are very similar to those described above. Accompanying the 
string of 224 beads is a note card that reads, ``Indian Beads from an 
Indian Burial Ground, White Mountain Reservation, 1898, Arizona.'' 
These beads are part of the Mayerhoff-Dietz collection that was donated 
in 1948 and cataloged in 1989.
    Officials of Homestead National Monument of America have determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the three cultural items 
described above 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 and are believed, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual. Officials of Homestead

[[Page 56485]]

National Monument of America 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 unassociated funerary objects and 
the White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, 
Arizona.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Mark Engler, Superintendent, Homestead National Monument of 
America, 8523 W. State Highway 4, Beatrice, NE 68310, telephone (402) 
223-3514 before October 27, 2005. Repatriation of the unassociated 
funerary objects to the White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache 
Reservation, Arizona may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    Homestead National Monument of America is responsible for notifying 
the White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 29, 2005.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 05-19266 Filed 9-26-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S