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

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13034-13035]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-6306]


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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

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    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