[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 8, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 911-912]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-387]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion for Native American Human Remains 
and Associated Funerary Objects in the Possession of the U.S. 
Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Natchez Trace 
Parkway, Tupelo, MS

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 10.9, 
of the completion of an inventory of human remains and associated 
funerary objects in the possession of the U.S. Department of the 
Interior, National Park Service, Natchez Trace Parkway, Tupelo, MS.
    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 
National Park Service unit that has control or possession of these 
Native American human remains. The Assistant Director, Cultural 
Resources Stewardship and Partnerships is not responsible for the 
determinations within this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by National 
Park Service professional staff in consultation with representatives of 
the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Alabama-Coushatta 
Tribes of Texas; Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Cherokee 
Nation, Oklahoma; Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma; Chitimacha Tribe of 
Louisiana; Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians 
of North Carolina; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Jena Band of 
Choctaw Indians, Louisiana; Kialegee Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Miccosukee 
Tribe of Indians of Florida; Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, 
Mississippi; Muskogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma; Poarch Band of Creek 
Indians of Alabama; Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; Seminole Tribe of 
Florida, Dania, Big Cypress, Brighton, Hollywood & Tampa Reservations; 
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of 
Louisiana; and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma. 
The Shawnee Tribe, also known also as the ``Loyal Shawnee'' or 
``Cherokee Shawnee,'' a nonfederally recognized Native American group 
at the time that they were consulted, has since been recognized as 
eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United 
States to Indians because of their status as Indians under provisions 
of P.L. 106-568.
    In 1984 and 1985, human remains representing eight individuals were 
recovered from the Mayberry site during an authorized National Park 
Service contract with the University of Tennessee. No known individuals 
were identified. The eight associated funerary objects are four 
archeological field bags of limestone slab fragments believed to have 
been intentionally placed with the human remains to line the grave, 
three ceramic trowels, and one celt.
    The Mayberry site is located in Hickman County, TN, on the southern 
river terrace of the Duck River. The human remains and associated 
funerary objects were excavated from five ``box burials'' and one bell-
shaped burial discovered at the site. Box burials are characterized by 
placement of the flexed body into a limestone-, sandstone-, or pottery-
lined pit. Artifacts associated with the human remains indicate that 
these individuals were buried during the Mississippian cultural period 
(A.D. 900-1650). The box burial practice was common in an area 
generally bounded by the Tennessee, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers. It 
appears to be most commonly practiced on the Cumberland Plateau, around 
Nashville, TN, during the Mississippian period. Box graves in this 
region are attributed to the Middle Cumberland Culture. Descendants of 
this prehistoric group have never been firmly established. One account 
of Delaware burial practice from the 18th century does closely match 
one burial from the Mayberry site. However, at the time of first 
sustained European contact in the 17th century, the tribes of the 
Delaware confederacy were located along the Atlantic slope in the 
present-day States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware. 
Another early historic account links box burials with burial practices 
of the widespread Shawnee bands whose aboriginal range did extend into 
the area of the Mayberry site. The area is considered part of the 
traditional hunting lands of Cherokee and Chickasaw tribes, and -- 
according to Chickasaw representatives consulted on June 28, 2001 -- 
may have been part of the Chickasaw's traditional homelands during the 
Mississippian cultural period. The first documented long-term contact 
between Europeans and Native Americans in the area

[[Page 912]]

occurred around A.D. 1700 when a French trader, Charles Charleville, 
began trading with the Shawnee at French Lick in what is now Nashville, 
TN. The Mayberry site is located within the area ceded to the United 
States by the Cherokee on January 7, 1807, and by the Chickasaw on 
September 20, 1816.
    Based on the above-mentioned information, the superintendent of 
Natchez Trace Parkway has determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 
(d)(1), the human remains listed above represent the physical remains 
of eight individuals of Native American ancestry. The superintendent of 
Natchez Trace Parkway also has determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 
(d)(2), the eight 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, the 
superintendent of Natchez Trace Parkway has determined that, pursuant 
to 43 CFR 10.2 (e), there is a relationship of shared group identity 
that can be reasonably traced between these Native American human 
remains and associated funerary objects and the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe 
of Indians of Oklahoma; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Shawnee 
Tribe, Oklahoma, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma; Eastern Band of Cherokee 
Indians of North Carolina; United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of 
Oklahoma; and the Chickasaw Nation.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Absentee-Shawnee 
Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Alabama and Coushatta Tribes of Texas; 
Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma; 
Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma; Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana; Choctaw 
Nation of Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of Indians; Delaware Nation; Eastern 
Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of 
Oklahoma; Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, Louisiana; Kialegee Tribal 
Town, Oklahoma; Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida; Mississippi 
Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi; Muskogee (Creek) Nation, 
Oklahoma; Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama; Seminole Nation of 
Oklahoma; Seminole Tribe of Florida, Dania, Big Cypress, Brighton, 
Hollywood & Tampa Reservations; Shawnee Tribe, Oklahoma; Stockbridge-
Munsee Community of Mohican Indians of Wisconsin; Thlopthlocco Tribal 
Town, Oklahoma; Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of Louisiana; and United 
Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma. Representatives of any 
other Indian tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated 
with these human remains and associated funerary objects should contact 
Wendell Simpson, Superintendent, Natchez Trace Parkway, 2680 Natchez 
Trace Parkway, Tupelo, MS 38803, telephone (662) 680-4005, before 
February 7, 2002. Repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects to the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; 
Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Shawnee Tribe, Oklahoma; Cherokee 
Nation of Oklahoma; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina; 
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma; and Chickasaw 
Nation may begin after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.

    Dated: October 19, 2001.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships.
[FR Doc. 02-387 Filed 1-7-02; 8:45 am]
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