2025-01177. Notice of Inventory Completion: Marshall University, Huntington, WV

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Department of the Interior

National Park Service

1. [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0039365; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Marshall University 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.

DATES:

Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice may occur on or after February 18, 2025.

ADDRESSES:

Marion Coe, Marshall University, One John Marshall Drive, Huntington, WV 25755, telephone [phone], email [e-mail].

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 Marshall University, and additional information on the determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the inventory or related records. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

Based on the information available, human remains representing, at least, one individual has been reasonably identified. The one lot of associated funerary objects consist of 37 fragments of unmodified faunal remains. Of this number, 30 are currently missing from the collection. Marshall University continues to look for any missing objects. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from the Childers Site (46-MS-121), Burial Feature 24 from Mason County in West Virginia. In 1980, the University of Akron Field School conducted an archaeological excavation of the Site and exhumed human remains and associated funerary objects. The human remains were later transferred to Marshall University. Sometime in the early 1990s, a now retired faculty member from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Marshall University, sent the human remains to a graduate student for their dissertation research. This individual reached out to Marshall University and returned the human remains in September 2023. Marshall University has no knowledge or record of the presence of any potentially hazardous substances being used to treat the human remains or associated funerary objects.

Cultural Affiliation

Based on the information available and the results of consultation, cultural affiliation is reasonably identified by the geographical location of the human remains and associated funerary objects described in this notice.

Determinations

Marshall University has determined that:

• The human remains described in this notice represent the physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
• The one object described in this notice is reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near individual human remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony.
• There is a reasonable connection 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; Catawba Indian Nation; Cayuga Nation; Cherokee Nation; Chickahominy Indian Tribe; Chickahominy Indian Tribe—Eastern Division; Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy's Reservation, Montana; Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of Indians; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan; Kaw Nation, Oklahoma; Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Michigan; Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; 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 Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians of Montana; 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); Nansemond Indian Nation; Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; Oneida Indian Nation; Oneida Nation; Onondaga Nation; Pamunkey Indian Tribe; Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Nebraska; Rappahannock Tribe, Inc.; Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota; Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan; Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe; 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; Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe; Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota; Tuscarora Nation; United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma; Upper Mattaponi Tribe; 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 authorized representative identified in this notice under 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 February 18, 2025. If competing requests for repatriation are received, Marshall University 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. Marshall University is responsible for sending a copy of this ( print page 5993) notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice.

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

Dated: January 13, 2025.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.