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

Abstract of Information Available

A total of one cultural item has been requested for repatriation. The one unassociated funerary object is a beaded cradleboard (E.1987.3). Available information indicates that the cradleboard was removed from a grave near Ashland, Montana in an unknown year. The bottom portion of the cradleboard is damaged and missing, and the remaining portion appears to have been burned. Mr. L.D. Bax donated the cradleboard to History Colorado (then the Colorado Historical Society) in September 1960. L.D. Bax (Lionel Drewyer Bax, 1898-1984) was a Colorado-based collector who assembled a collection of Native American cultural materials associated with Native peoples of the Great Plains and western United States. Available information does not indicate that the cradleboard itself was tested for or treated with hazardous substances. However, during its time in museum collections, it may have been stored in proximity to or alongside other cultural materials that had been treated with hazardous substances.

Determinations

History Colorado has determined that:

• The one unassociated funerary object described in this notice is reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near human remains, and are connected, either at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony of a Native American culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. The unassociated funerary object has been identified by a preponderance of the evidence as related to human remains, specific individuals, or families, or removed from a specific burial site or burial area of an individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
• There is a connection between the cultural item described in this notice and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana.

Requests for Repatriation

Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural item in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified in this notice under ADDRESSES . Requests for repatriation may be submitted by 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 cultural item in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after October 9, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, History Colorado must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the cultural item are ( printed page 57380) considered a single request and not competing requests. History Colorado is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice and to any other consulting parties.

Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

91 FR 57379