[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 6, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 679-680]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-142]


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DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate: Louisiana State University Museum 
of Natural Science, Baton Rouge, LA

AGENCY: National Park Service

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 10.8 
(f), of the intent to repatriate cultural items in the possession of 
the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science, Baton Rouge, 
LA, that meet the definition of ``unassociated funerary objects'' under 
25 U.S.C. 3001. The unassociated funerary objects were removed from the 
Alston Place site (22LE014), Lee County, MS.
    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.
    In 1937, 12,510 unassociated funerary objects were removed during 
excavations at the Alston Place site (22LE014), Lee County, MS, by 
Moreau B. Chambers. Mr. Chambers donated the unassociated funerary 
objects to the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science the 
same year. The unassociated funerary objects are European glass beads.
    The Alston Place site is a fortified habitation site and cemetery. 
Archeological evidence dates the latest occupation of the settlement to 
the 18th century. The Alston Place site has been

[[Page 680]]

identified both as a Chickasaw village, and as the Natchez village of 
Falatchao that was occupied after the Natchez fled their lands 
following defeat by the French in 1729.
    The Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma is descended from the earlier, 
historically recognized Chickasaw Tribe. The Chitimacha Tribe of 
Louisiana is the only federally recognized tribe that shares cultural 
attributes with the late prehistoric Delta-Natchezan cultural complex 
from which both the historically known Natchez and Chitimacha tribes 
are descended. On the basis of linguistic and sociocultural evidence, 
the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana is considered to be the most closely 
related of the federally recognized Native American groups to the 
historic Natchez.
    Officials of the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural 
Science have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001, Sec. 2 
(3)(B), the 12,510 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 
Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science also have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001, Sec. 2 (2), there is a 
relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced 
between the unassociated funerary objects and the Chickasaw Nation of 
Oklahoma and the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and the 
Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana should contact Dr. Rebecca Saunders, 
Assistant Curator of Anthropology, Louisiana State Museum of Natural 
Science, 119 Foster Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, telephone (225) 578-
6562, before February 5, 2004. Repatriation of the unassociated 
funerary objects to the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Chitimacha 
Tribe of Louisiana may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    The Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science is 
responsible for notifying the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and the 
Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana that this notice has been published.

    Dated: November 13, 2003.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources.
[FR Doc. 04-142 Filed 1-5-04; 8:45 am]
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