2011-31072. Notice of Inventory Completion: Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, Bemidji, MN

AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council has completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects in consultation with the appropriate Indian tribes, and has determined that there is no cultural affiliation between the remains and any present-day Indian tribe. Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains may contact the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council. Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects is to the Indian tribes stated below may occur if no additional requestors come forward.

DATES:

Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a cultural affiliation with the human remains should contact the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council at the address below by January 4, 2012.

ADDRESSES:

James L. (Jim) Jones, Cultural Resource Director, Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, 3801 Bemidji Avenue NW., Suite 5, Bemidji, MN 56601, telephone [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects in the possession of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC). The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from the following Pine County, MN.

This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3) and 43 CFR 10.11(d). The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native American human remains. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the MIAC professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians of the Bad River Reservation, Wisconsin; Bois Forte Band (Nett Lake) of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota; Fond du Lac Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota; Grand Portage Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota; 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, Michigan; Leech Lake Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota; Mille Lacs Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota; Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota; Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; Sokaogon Chippewa Community, Wisconsin; St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin; White Earth Band of Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota (hereinafter referred to as “The Tribes”).

History and Description of the Remains

At an unknown date, human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals were removed by a private citizen from an undesignated site on the Kettle River, near Hinckley in Pine County, MN. Some years later, a relative brought the human remains to the cultural resource department of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota Community, who transferred the human remains to the Minnesota Office of the State Archaeologist in 2001. In 2002, the human remains were transferred to the MIAC (H386). No known individuals were identified. The one associated funerary object is a piece of birch bark.

Birch bark is found in both pre-contact and post-contact burial contexts in Minnesota. It is a known traditional American Indian burial practice to wrap human remains in birch bark as part of the internment process. These human remains have no temporal context and no archeological classification and cannot be associated with any present-day Indian tribe.

Determinations Made by the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council

Officials of the MIAC have determined that:

• Based on non-destructive physical analysis and catalogue records, the human remains are Native American.
• Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), a relationship of shared group identity cannot be reasonably traced between the Native American human remains and any present-day Indian tribe.
• According to final judgments of the Indian Claims Commission, the land from which the Native American human remains and associated funerary objects were removed is the aboriginal land of The Tribes.
• Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described in this notice represent the physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
• Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the one object described above is 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.
• Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1), the disposition of the human remains is to The Tribes.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains or any other Indian tribe that believes it satisfies the criteria in 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1) should contact James L. (Jim) Jones, Cultural Resource Director, Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, 3801 Bemidji Avenue NW., Suite 5, Bemidji, MN 56601, telephone [phone], before January 4, 2012. Disposition of the human remains to The Tribes may proceed after that date if no additional requestors come forward.

The Minnesota Indian Affairs Council is responsible for notifying The Tribes that this notice has been published.

Dated: November 29, 2011.

Sherry Hutt,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.