[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 232 (Friday, December 3, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67932-67933]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-31363]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items from Warren, RI in 
the Possession of the Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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[[Page 67933]]

    Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves Protection 
and Repatriation Act, 43 CFR 10.10 (a)(3), of the intent to repatriate 
cultural items in the possession of the Museum of the City of New York, 
New York, NY which meet the definition of ``unassociated funerary 
object'' under Section 2 of the Act.
    The 19 cultural items consist of two flushloop-varity, medium sized 
bells with broken attachment loops, a narrow hoe with a circular eye, a 
hook, a clay tobacco pipe, a knife blade, a spoon, a brass kettle 
(bottom missing) with rolled rim and riveted ears, three chain links 
(linked), a finger ring, five cylindrical blue glass trade beads, and 
five glass star trade beads.
    In 1965, these cultural items were acquired by the Museum of the 
City of New York from the Heye Museum of the American Indian. These 
items were acquired earlier by the Heye Museum of the American Indian 
as part of the Carr collection from the Burr's Hill burial site in 
Warren, RI.
    Burr's Hill is believed to be located on the southern border of 
Sowams, a Wampanoag village. Sowams is identified in historical 
documents of the 16th and 17th centuries as a Wampanoag village, and 
was ceded to the English in 1653 by Massasoit and his eldest son 
Wamsutta (Alexander). Based on the condition and type, these cultural 
items have been dated to the contact period (1500-1690 A.D.). 
Consultation evidence provided by representatives of the Wampanoag 
Repatriation Confederation representing the Gay Head Wampanoag Tribe of 
Massachusetts and the non-Federally recognized Indian groups the 
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag regarding 
other burials from Burr's Hill indicate consistent manner of interment 
of these cultural items with other known Wampanoag burials of the 
period.
    Based on the above mentioned information, officials of the Museum 
of the City of New York have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 
(d)(2)(ii), these 19 cultural items are 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 the Museum 
of the City of New York 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 these items and the Wampanoag Repatriation 
Confederation representing the Gay Head Wampanoag Tribe of 
Massachusetts and the non-Federally recognized Indian groups the 
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Wampanoag 
Repatriation Confederation representing the Gay Head Wampanoag Tribe of 
Massachusetts and the non-Federally recognized Indian groups the 
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag, and the 
Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island. Representatives of any other 
Indian tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with 
these objects should contact Wendy Rogers, Museum of the City of New 
York, 1220 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029; telephone: (212) 534-1672, 
ext. 221 before January 3, 2000. Repatriation of these objects to the 
Wampanoag Repatriation Confederation on behalf of the Gay Head 
Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts and the non-Federally recognized 
Indian groups the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Assonet Band of the 
Wampanoag may begin after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
Dated: November 24, 1999.
Francis P. McManamon,
Departmental Consulting Archeologist,
Manager, Archeology and Ethnography Program.
[FR Doc. 99-31363 Filed 12-2-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F