[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 7 (Monday, January 12, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 1872]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-660]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item from South 
Carolina in the Possession of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative 
Arts, Old Salem, Inc., Winston-Salem, NC

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice

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    Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves Protection 
and Repatriation Act, 43 CFR 10.10 (a)(3), of the intent to repatriate 
a cultural item from South Carolina in the possession of the Museum of 
Early Southern Decorative Arts, Old Salem, Inc., Winston-Salem, NC 
which meets the definition of ``unassociated funerary object'' under 43 
CFR 10.2 (d).
    The object is a crescent-shaped silver gorget. The gorget has the 
name ``FINEY GEORGE'' engraved on the front center surrounded by a Neo-
classical engraved border. On the back of the gorget there are two 
snakes engraved in a different hand than the front engraving. The back 
also has two silversmith's marks, Machen, in script within a serrated 
rectangle.
    In 1972, this gorget was donated to the Museum of Early Southern 
Decorative Arts, a division of Old Salem, Inc. By Mr. G. Wilson 
Douglas, Jr.. Donor information indicates Mr. Douglas purchased this 
gorget from Mr. John P. Hart, York, SC who had removed the gorget from 
an Indian grave on the Catawba River on the South Carolina side near 
Van Wyck, SC.
    Based on the silversmith's mark, this gorget was made by Thomas W. 
Machen of New Bern, NC between 1800-1825. The area near Van Wyck, SC 
indicated by the donor information is an historic Catawba burial ground 
used as recently as the Civil War. Consultation evidence presented by 
representatives of the Catawba Indian Nation indicate the engraved name 
``FINEY GEORGE'' is most likely a linguistic error in the spelling of 
Piney George, also known as Pine Tree George. Piney George appears in 
written histories of the Catawba (Brown, 1966), as well as in 
Revolutionary War pension rolls, which list Piney George as having the 
rank of Captain. Further, in Catawba tradition the rank of Captain 
would have been designated by the use of two snake effigies such as 
those that appear on the gorget.
    Officials of Old Salem, Inc. have determined that, pursuant to 43 
CFR 10.2 (d)(2)(ii), this cultural item is reasonably believed to have 
been placed with or near individual human remains at the time of death 
or later as part of the death rite or ceremony and are believed, by a 
preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed from a specific 
burial site of an Native American individual. Officials of Old Salem, 
Inc. have also determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (e), there is a 
relationship of shared group identity which can be reasonably traced 
between this item and the Catawba Indian Nation.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Catawba Indian 
Nation. Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself 
to be culturally affiliated with this object should contact Hobart G. 
Cawood, President, Old Salem Inc., Box F, Salem Station, Winston-Salem, 
NC 27108; telephone (910) 721-7300 before February 11, 1998. 
Repatriation of this object to the Catawba Indian Nation may begin 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.

    Dated: January 6, 1997.
Francis P. McManamon,
Departmental Consulting Archeologist,
Manager, Archeology and Ethnography Program.
[FR Doc. 98-660 Filed 1-9-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F