[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 62 (Friday, April 1, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16840-16841]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-6466]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: Robert S. Peabody 
Museum of Archaeology, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA

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. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate cultural items in the

[[Page 16841]]

possession of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, Phillips 
Academy, Andover, 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 in 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 in this notice.
    The 25 cultural items are 21 copper beads and 2 brass beads strung 
on cordage, 1 whale bone spoon, and 1 clay pipe fragment.
    At an unknown date, a string of 21 copper and 2 brass beads was 
collected from the Swansea Burial site during excavations undertaken by 
Maurice Robbins. The site is located in Swansea, Bristol County, MA. In 
1941, Mr. Robbins donated the beads to the Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology.
    Based on the funerary objects present at the site, the Swansea 
Burial site is considered to date to the postcontact period 
(post[macr]A.D. 1500). Based on geographical, archeological, 
ethnographic, and historical evidence, a clear relationship of shared 
group identity can be demonstrated between the Swansea Burial site and 
the Wampanoag, who are today represented by the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay 
Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (a 
nonfederally recognized Indian group), and Assonet Band of the 
Wampanoag Nation (a nonfederally recognized Indian group).
    In 1955, human remains representing two individuals were removed 
from the Slocum River site in Dartmouth, Bristol County, MA, by Douglas 
S. Byers and Frederick Johnson under the auspices of the Robert S. 
Peabody Museum of Archaeology. The human remains were transferred to 
the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 
Cambridge, MA, in 1956. One whale bone spoon and a clay pipe fragment 
that were associated with these individuals are in the possession of 
the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology.
    Based on artifact typology, the Slocum River site is dated to the 
Late Woodland/Early Contact period (post[macr]A.D. 1500).
    The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology included the two 
individuals from the Slocum River site in a notice of inventory 
completion published in the Federal Register on August 14, 2003 (FR 
Doc. 03[macr]20754, pages 48626[macr]48634). The human remains were 
repatriated to the Wampanoag Repatriation Confederation on behalf of 
the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts, Mashpee 
Wampanoag Tribe (a nonfederally recognized Indian group), and the 
Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation (a nonfederally recognized Indian 
group) on December 4, 2003.
    The material culture of Native American settlements dating from the 
Middle Woodland period through the Historic period in southeastern 
Massachusetts in the area between Buzzards Bay and Narragansett Bay, 
where the Slocum River site and the Swansea Burial site are located, 
display many similar traits. Cultural continuity is reflected in 
settlement and subsistence patterns, material culture, and burial 
practices. While patterns and practices have changed over time, it is 
clear that the changes occurred within the original culture and were 
not results of migration of new groups. The Wampanoag people developed 
out of these earlier cultures. The Wampanoag are today represented by 
the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts, Mashpee 
Wampanoag Tribe (a nonfederally recognized Indian group), and Assonet 
Band of the Wampanoag Nation (a nonfederally recognized Indian group).
    Officials of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the 25 cultural 
items 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 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 Robert S. Peabody Museum 
of Archaeology also 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 unassociated funerary objects and the 
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts, and there is a 
cultural relationship between the unassociated funerary objects and the 
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (a nonfederally recognized Indian group) and 
the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation (a nonfederally recognized 
Indian group).
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Malinda S. Blustain, Director, Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA 01810, telephone (978) 749-
4490, before May 2, 2005. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary 
objects to the Wampanoag Repatriation Confederation on behalf of the 
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts, Mashpee 
Wampanoag Tribe (a nonfederally recognized Indian group), and Assonet 
Band of the Wampanoag Nation (a nonfederally recognized Indian group) 
may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology is responsible for 
notifying the Wampanoag Repatriation Confederation, Wampanoag Tribe of 
Gay Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (a 
nonfederally recognized Indian group), and Assonet Band of the 
Wampanoag Nation (a nonfederally recognized Indian group) that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: February 11, 2005.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 05-6466 Filed 3-31-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S