Wyoming BLM Completes Inventory of Tribal Beads and Tools
Published Date: 4/16/2026
Notice
Summary
The Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming has finished checking a group of old Native American items like beads and stone tools found at several archaeological sites. These items, stored at the University of Wyoming, are linked to Native tribes and can be returned starting May 18, 2026. If you’re part of a tribe or organization, you can request these important cultural objects to be sent back.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Associated Funerary Items Eligible for Return
The BLM completed an inventory of one lot of associated funerary objects (including beads, lithics and stone tools, soil samples, debitage/flakes, faunal remains, projectile points, bone awls, ground stone, fire cracked rock, charcoal, and shell) removed from archaeological sites 48LN1296, 48CR325, 48SU2019, 48UT920, 48SU301, 48UT63, and 48SW5860 in Wyoming during excavations before November 16, 1990. These items are curated at the University of Wyoming in Laramie and may be repatriated on or after May 18, 2026.
Who Can Request Repatriation
The notice names specific affiliated tribes (including Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation; Blackfeet Tribe; Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe; Chippewa Cree Indians of Rocky Boy's Reservation; Crow Tribe; Eastern Shoshone Tribe; Fort Belknap Indian Community; Kiowa Tribe; Northern Arapaho Tribe; Northern Cheyenne Tribe; Oglala Sioux Tribe; Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma; Rosebud Sioux Tribe; Standing Rock Sioux Tribe; and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska) that may request repatriation. Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization not listed may also request repatriation if they show by a preponderance of the evidence that they are a lineal descendant or culturally affiliated; written requests must be sent to Tanya Thrift, State Director, Wyoming BLM at 5353 Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, WY 82009 or the email address provided in the notice.
How Competing Claims Are Resolved
If competing requests for the same associated funerary objects are received, the BLM Wyoming State Office must determine the most appropriate requestor before repatriation. Requests filed jointly by multiple requestors are treated as a single request and are not considered competing requests.
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