[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 225 (Tuesday, November 23, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68161-68162]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-25928]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Texas Archeological Research 
Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary 
objects in the possession of the Texas Archeological Research 
Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. The human 
remains were removed from a site in San Jacinto County, TX.
    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 in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native 
American human remains and associated funerary objects. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by Texas 
Archeological Research Laboratory professional staff in consultation 
with representatives of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas. No other 
tribes were consulted.
    In 1968 and 1969, human remains representing a minimum of four 
individuals were removed from the Arthur Patterson site, San Jacinto 
County, TX, during excavations by the Texas State Building Commission, 
the Texas Water Development Board, the Houston Archeological Society 
and students from Coldsprings High School. The human remains were 
acquired by the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at an 
undocumented date. No known individuals were identified. The 93 
associated funerary objects are 34 lots of beads, 2 ceramic cups, 2 
ceramic saucers, 1 ceramic plate, 1 lot of glass bottle fragments, 1 
glass goblet, 2 glass tumblers, 3 hawk bell fragments, 5 iron 
fragments, 1 lot of iron nail fragments, 1 lot of iron scissors 
fragments, 4 pieces of petrified wood, 7 sherds, 8 silver conchos, 6 
white glass buttons, 1 metal bucket, 1 wood fragment, 5 pieces of 
quartzite, 1 bone-handled knife, 1 domesticated pig canine, 1 lot of 
feathers, 1 glass medicine bottle, 2 fragmented rings, 1 lot of sherds 
and flakes, and 1 lot of glass beads.
    The Arthur Patterson site is a Native American cemetery that 
appears to have been in use from the 1840s to the 1870s based on the 
artifacts found with the human remains. The Alabama and Coushatta 
Indians were the only groups known historically in the area during that 
period. The nature of the site from which the human remains were 
obtained, the mode of interment, and the kinds of associated funerary 
objects are consistent with the practices of the Alabama-Coushatta 
Tribes of Texas.
    Officials of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains 
described above represent the physical remains of four individuals of 
Native American ancestry. Officials of the Texas Archeological Research 
Laboratory also have determined that, pursuant to 25

[[Page 68162]]

U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 93 objects described above 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. 
Lastly, officials of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is a 
relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced 
between the Native American human remains and associated funerary 
objects and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Dr. Darrell Creel, Director, The University of 
Texas at Austin, Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, 1 University 
Station R7500, Austin, TX 78712-0714, telephone (512) 471-5960, before 
December 23, 2004. Repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects to the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Texas Archeological Research Laboratory is responsible for 
notifying the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: October 25, 2004
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 04-25928 Filed 11-22-04; 8:45 am]
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