2024-02553. Notice of Inventory Completion: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

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 Hancock County, Ohio.

DATES:

Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice may occur on or after March 11, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

Nekole Alligood, NAGPRA Specialist, Ohio History Connection, 800 E 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43211, 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 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

The following were recovered from Hancock County, Ohio.

33 HK 5, Richard F. Moyer Kame Site, Mount Corey, Union Township, Hancock County, Ohio. Eight individuals were exhumed during a salvage excavation by Ohio Historical Society (now the Ohio History Connection) staff and by Mrs. Moyer. The excavations were conducted by Jack Shaffer, Raymond Baby, and Beverly Rettig in July–August 1957. Richard Moyer donated the individuals along with two faunal remain fragments and one animal tooth (possibly fish).

33 HK 53, Shick Cemetery, Mount Corey, Union Township, Hancock County, Ohio. The remains of 10 individuals were exhumed during a basement enlargement project. The individuals were donated to the Ohio History Connection by Mark C. Schick in 2000. There are four juveniles and six adults.

33 HK 6, Washington Township, Hancock County, Ohio. There are five individuals found on the surface from a destroyed multicomponent campsite (Solether Site) that were collected by Rick Siferd and Jeff Krazynski, who then gifted the individuals to the Ohio History Connection. No dates were included. There was one associated funerary object, a deer, or elk scapula, also found.

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 23 individuals of Native American ancestry.
• There are four objects described in this notice are 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; Cayuga Nation; Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of Indians; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Kaw Nation, Oklahoma; Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Michigan; Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan; Miami Tribe of Oklahoma; Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; Oneida Indian Nation; Oneida Nation; Onondaga Nation; Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Nebraska; Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska; Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahoma; Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa; Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe; Seneca-Cayuga Nation; Shawnee Tribe; Tonawanda Band of Seneca; Tuscarora Nation; 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 11, 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 on or after 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 1, 2024.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.