[Federal Register: March 16, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 50)] [Notices] [Page 13034-13035] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16mr99-81] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Park Service Notice of Inventory Completion for Native American Human Remains and Associated Funerary Objects from the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, MT in the Possession of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, National Park Service, Crow Agency, MT AGENCY: National Park Service ACTION: Notice ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Notice is hereby given in accordance with provisions of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 43 CFR 10.9, of the completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects, in the possession of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, National Park Service, Crow Agency, MT. A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the National Park Service professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana; Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota; Crow Tribe of Montana; Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana; Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota; Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota; Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota; Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota; and Upper Sioux Indian Community of the Upper Sioux Indian Reservation, Minnesota. At an unknown date, human remains representing one individual were illegally removed from a grave on federal and/or Crow tribal lands at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument by George Scott of Billings, Montana. In the spring of 1991, Scott transferred the human remains to Richard Maniscalco, of Rappahannock Academy, Virginia. Additionally, Scott provided Maniscalco with approximately 59 other illegally obtained objects from federal and/or Crow tribal lands at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. No known individual was identified. The 15 associated funerary objects include one 45/70 slug, 12 glass seed beads, a scalping knife blade, and a buffalo tooth. On January 19, 1994, Maniscalco sold the human remains, purported to have been a Cheyenne rib bone, to an undercover federal agent. During this transaction, Maniscalco also sold the agent archaeological resources said to have originated from the Little Bighorn National Monument. Following the sale, special agents from the National Park Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Land Management confronted Maniscalco with the illegal acts that had transpired. In addition to the human remains and archaeological resources Maniscalco sold to the federal agent, it was discovered that he possessed 15 objects that had been bagged together and separately labeled by Scott as having been removed from a Cheyenne grave. These objects included a 45/70 slug (labeled: from grave), 12 glass seed beads (labeled: from Cheyenne grave), a metal item (labeled: Cheyenne scalp knife), and a buffalo tooth (labeled: from Cheyenne grave). The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted Maniscalco, following a referral by the United States Attorney for the District of Montana and the Bureau of Land Management. In the case of United States v. Maniscalco, the defendant, Maniscalco, entered a guilty plea in the United States District Court of Eastern Virginia to trafficking in American Indian human remains, in violation NAGPRA's illegal trafficking provisions under Title 18, United States Code, Section 1170(a). Furthermore, Maniscalco pled guilty to the illicit sale of archeological resources obtained from public and/or Indian lands, in violation of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) Title 16, United States Code, Sections 470ee (a) and (b). On April 17, 1996, the human remains and associated funerary objects were officially transferred from the Department of Justice to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, National Park Service. The result of a professionally administered, non-destructive analysis conducted on the above mentioned Native American human remains indicates the bone fragment's morphology as being consistent with that of a human tibia, or leg bone. Further, the size of the bone suggests that it represents the remains of a female. Based on the above mentioned information, officials of the National Park Service have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d)(l), the human remains listed above represent the physical remains of a minimum of one individual of Native American ancestry. Officials of the National Park Service have also determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d)(2), the 15 objects listed above are reasonably believed to have been placed with or near individual human remains at the time of death or later as part of a death rite or ceremony. Lastly, officials of the National Park Service have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (e), there is a relationship of shared group identify which can be reasonably traced between the Native American human remains and the associated funerary objects and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, Montana, and the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. This notice has been sent to officials of the Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana; Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota; Crow Tribe of Montana; Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana; Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota; Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota; Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South Dakota; Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota; and Upper Sioux Indian Community of the Upper Sioux Indian Reservation, Minnesota. Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary objects, should contact Neil C. Mangum, Superintendent, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, P.O. Box 39, Crow Agency, MT 59022; telephone: (406) 638-2621, before April 15, 1999. Repatriation of the human remains and associated grave goods to the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, Montana, and the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma will begin after that [[Page 13035]] date if no additional claimants come forward. Dated: March 9, 1999. Veletta Canouts, Acting Departmental Consulting Archeologist, Deputy Manager, Archeology and Ethnography Program. [FR Doc. 99-6306 Filed 3-15-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4310-70-F