[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 78 (Wednesday, April 23, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20028-20029]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-10030]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: Peabody Essex 
Museum, Salem, MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves Protection 
and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3005, of the intent to 
repatriate cultural items in the possession of the Peabody Essex 
Museum, Salem, MA, that meet the definition of ``unassociated funerary 
objects'' under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003 (d)(3). 
The determinations within this notice are the sole responsibility of 
the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the 
cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations within this notice.
    The cultural items were collected by J.S. Emerson sometime between 
the 1880s and the early 1900s and purchased for the Peabody Essex 
Museum by Dr. C.G. Weld on June 12, 1907. In documentation accompanying 
the collection, Mr. Emerson indicated that he had found the items in 
ancient burial caves in Kohala and Kau, HI. He referred to the eight 
unassociated funerary objects as ``a runner of a holua sled,'' ``a 
small hue,'' an ``ipu le'i, a very deep bowl with a calabash cover,'' 
an ``ipukai waiho i'a, a very old wooden fish bowl,'' a ``pa inamona, 
wooden bowl,'' ``two pieces of an old umeke (wooden poi bowl),'' all 
from Kanupa Cave in Kohala, and a ``kioe i'a, a cocoanut shell spoon or 
ladle'' from a burial cave in Kau. Kohala and Kau are both on the 
Island of Hawaii.
    During consultation, representatives of Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O 
Hawai'i Nei, Ka Lahui Hawai'i, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs 
indicated their desire to repatriate the cultural items. Officials of 
the Peabody Essex Museum have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 
3001 (3)(B), the 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 a Native American individual. Officials of the Peabody 
Essex Museum also have determined following consultation with Bernice 
P. Bishop Museum professional staff that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 
(2), there is a relationship of shared group identity that can be 
reasonably traced between the cultural items and Hui Malama I Na Kupuna 
O Hawai'i Nei, Ka Lahui Hawai'i, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
    Representatives of any other Native Hawaiian organization that 
believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the cultural items 
should contact Christina Hellmich, Director of Collections Management, 
Peabody Essex Museum,

[[Page 20029]]

East India Square, Salem, MA 01970, telephone (978) 745-1876, facsimile 
(978) 744-0036, before May 23, 2003. Repatriation of the unassociated 
funerary objects to Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, Ka Lahui 
Hawai'i, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs may proceed after that date 
if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Peabody Essex Museum is responsible for notifying Hui Malama I 
Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, Ka Lahui Hawai'i, and the Office of Hawaiian 
Affairs that this notice has been published.

    Dated: March 27, 2003.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources.
[FR Doc. 03-10030 Filed 4-22-03; 8:45 am]
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