Notice of Inventory Completion: Cincinnati Museum Center, Cincinnati, OH

• Published date: 14 May 2025
• FR Document: 2025-08471
• Citation: 90 FR 20491
• Pages: 20491-20492
• Section: Notices
• Issuer: Interior Department,National Park Service

Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 92 (Wednesday, May 14, 2025)

[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 14, 2025)]
                [Notices]
                [Pages 20491-20492]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2025-08471]
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                DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
                National Park Service
                [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0040117; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
                Notice of Inventory Completion: Cincinnati Museum Center,
                Cincinnati, OH
                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 Cincinnati Museum Center 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 June 13, 2025.
                ADDRESSES: Tyler Swinney, Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western
                Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45203, telephone (513) 287-7000 Ext. 7287, email
                [email protected].
                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
                Cincinnati Museum Center, and additional information on the
                determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation,
                can be found in its inventory or related records. The National Park
                Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
                Abstract of Information Available
                 Human remains representing, at least, 107 individuals have been
                identified. The 1,148 lots of associated funerary objects are three
                circular incised marine shell gorgets, (Fairfield Style), a circular
                un-incised marine shell gorget, a crescent-shaped marine shell gorget,
                rectangular gorgets (marine shell, slate and animal bone), a young
                canid burial, an elbow-shaped limestone smoking pipe, a cut and
                polished wolf mandible segment, a muscovite mica mirror, a marine shell
                bead, a small copper pin, an unmodified concretion, cut/modified box
                turtle carapaces, drilled black bear and elk teeth, complete and
                partial domestic tools (flint, ground stone, and animal bone), animal
                bone ornaments and beads, muscovite mica fragments, freshwater mussel
                shells, terrestrial gastropods, carbonized botanical material, soil
                samples, thermally altered and unmodified stone, sandstone and rock
                abraders, grit and limestone tempered ceramics, burned and unburned
                animal bone, flint debitage, daub, copper-stained stone and animal
                bone, and intrusive historic material. These human remains and cultural
                objects originated from the Glenn/Oberting Mounds (12D24-25) in
                Dearborn County, Indiana, and the Hawkins Ridge Mounds (33Ha11[182] &
                33Ha583) and Newtown Firehouse site (33Ha419) in Hamilton County, Ohio.
                The Cincinnati Museum Center has no records indicating that these human
                remains or cultural objects were exposed to any hazardous substances
                while in the stewardship of the Museum.
                 During the early 1980s, Richard Scamyhorn conducted several amateur
                excavations at the Glenn/Oberting Mounds. The Scamyhorn collection was
                donated to the Museum in 2013.
                 In late 1989, the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History conducted
                emergency salvage excavations (Acc. 1990.11) at the Hawkins Ridge
                Mounds before the site was destroyed by residential development.
                Collections that were surface collected from Hawkins Ridge Mounds in
                1976 and 1977 by Eric Matchette were donated to the Museum in 1992
                (Acc. 1992.75).
                 In 1980/1981, the Miami Purchase Association for Historic
                Preservation, mitigated a series of inadvertent discoveries at the
                Newtown Firehouse site; these collections were transferred to the
                Museum in 1990 (Acc. 1990.58). Emergency salvage excavations were also
                conducted at the Newtown Firehouse site by the Cincinnati Museum Center
                in 2006 (Acc. 2006.196) prior to urban development and in 2015 (Acc.
                2015.71) following an inadvertent discovery during the installation of
                fiber-optics and telecommunication utilities.
                Cultural Affiliation
                 Based on the information available and the results of consultation,
                cultural affiliation is clearly identified by the information available
                about the human remains and associated funerary objects described in
                this notice.
                Determinations
                 The Cincinnati Museum Center has determined that:
                 The human remains described in this notice represent the
                physical remains of 107 individuals of Native American ancestry.
                 The 1,148 lots of objects described in this notice are
                reasonably believed to
                [[Page 20492]]
                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 connection between the human remains and
                associated funerary objects described in this notice and the Absentee
                Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of
                Oklahoma; Miami Tribe of Oklahoma; Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma; Peoria
                Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Shawnee Tribe; The Osage 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
                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 an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with
                cultural affiliation.
                 Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects
                described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after June 13,
                2025. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the
                Cincinnati Museum Center 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 Cincinnati Museum Center is responsible
                for sending a copy of this 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: April 30, 2025.
                Melanie O'Brien,
                Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
                [FR Doc. 2025-08471 Filed 5-13-25; 8:45 am]
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