[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 194 (Friday, October 5, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51065-51066]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-24966]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items in the Possession 
of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 
Cambridge, MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

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 
10.10(a)(3), of the intent to repatriate cultural items in the 
possession of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard 
University, Cambridge, MA that meet the definition of ``unassociated 
funerary objects'' under Section 2 of the Act.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 43 CFR 10.2 (c). The 
determinations within this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of these 
cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations within this notice.
    The 10 cultural items were donated to the Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology and Ethnology by J.H. Woods in 1922. These objects were 
collected at an unknown date and consist of one shell ornament, one 
unfinished stone discoidal, one effigy head bead, and seven shell and 
glass beads.
    According to museum documentation, these cultural items came from 
graves in unknown locations throughout Broome County, NY. No additional 
provenience information is available. These objects most likely date to 
the Contact period or later (post-A.D. 1500). Glass beads were 
introduced by Europeans as trade items in the late 16th and early 17th 
centuries, and the effigy bead appears to have been carved with a metal 
tool, which would have been available only from the Contact period on. 
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology does not have 
possession of the human remains from these burials.

[[Page 51066]]

    Museum records clearly indicate that these cultural items were 
removed from specific burials of Native American individuals. Based on 
the archeological materials from the sites, museum documentation, oral 
histories presented by the Cayuga Nation of New York, Oneida Nation of 
New York, Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin, Onondaga Nation of New York, St. 
Regis Band of Mohawk Indians of New York, Seneca Nation of New York, 
Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma, Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians of 
New York, and Tuscarora Nation of New York, the date of the cultural 
items, and the provenience of these cultural items from areas 
considered to be aboriginal homelands and traditional burial areas of 
the Oneida, a reasonable link of shared group identity may be made 
between these cultural items and the Oneida Nation of New York and the 
Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin.
    Based upon the above-mentioned information, officials of the 
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology have determined that, 
pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2(d)(2)(ii), these 10 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 specific burial sites of Native American individuals. 
Officials of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology also have 
determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2(e), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between these 
unassociated funerary objects and the Oneida Nation of New York and the 
Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Cayuga Nation of New 
York; Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma; 
Oneida Nation of New York; Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin; Onondaga Nation 
of New York; St. Regis Band of Mohawk Indians of New York; Seneca 
Nation of New York; Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma; Stockbridge-Munsee 
Community of Mohican Indians of Wisconsin; Tonawanda Band of Seneca 
Indians of New York; Tuscarora Nation of New York; and the nonfederally 
recognized Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs. Representatives of any 
other Indian tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated 
with these unassociated funerary objects should contact Patricia 
Capone, Repatriation Coordinator, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and 
Ethnology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, 
telephone (617) 496-3702, before November 5, 2001. Repatriation of 
these unassociated funerary objects to Oneida Nation of New York and 
the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin may begin after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.

    Dated: July 3, 2001.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships.
[FR Doc. 01-24966 Filed 10-4-01 ; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F