[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 176 (Tuesday, September 13, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54075-54076]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-18073]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology, Andover, MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is here given in accordance with provisions of 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 control of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology, Andover, MA. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from Bartow and Murray Counties, GA.
    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 the Robert 
S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology professional staff in consultation 
with representatives of the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma; 
Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North 
Carolina: Kialegee Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Muscogee (Creek) Nation, 
Oklahoma; Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama; Thlopthlocco Tribal 
Town, Oklahoma; and United Keetowah Band of Cherokee Indians in 
Oklahoma.
    Between 1925 and 1928, human remains representing a minimum of 99 
individuals were removed from the Etowah site, Bartow County, GA, by 
Warren King Moorehead of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology. 
No known individuals were identified. The 21,468 associated funerary 
objects are 5,116 miscellaneous beads, 10,725 tubular beads, 3,036 
ovoid beads, 188 freshwater periwinkles, 6 sea turtle shell beads, 1 
ceramic bead, 3 ceramic bowls, 1 ceramic fragment, 1 ceramic handle, 4 
ceramic jars, 1 ceramic pipe, 314 textile fragments (some with copper 
attached), 315 copper fragments, 69 matting fragments, 76 headdress 
fragments, 4 flint pieces, 59 copper hair ornaments, 64 potsherds, 325 
wood fragments (some with copper attached), 32 modified animal bone and 
animal bone fragments, 1 basketry fragment, 2 columella ornament 
fragments, 1 freshwater shell, 1 strombus shell, 402 shells, 12 shell 
gorgets, 1 shell spoon fragment, 1 axe, 3 bone bayonets, 2 charcoal 
samples, 4 galena pieces, 2 kaolin cores, 1 leather fragment, 2 Whelk 
fragments, 1 tooth, 6 stone celts, 166 stones, 1 soil sample, 402 shell 
and stone discoidals, 1 mineral ore sample, 80 mica fragments, 6 
Busycon cups and fragments, and 22 repousse copper plates.
    The Etowah site, situated on the Etowah River, was occupied circa 
A.D. 880-1550 with two breaks in occupation, one circa A.D. 1200-1250 
and the other circa A.D. 1400-1450. The first occupation of Etowah was 
during the Wilbanks Phase (A.D. 1250-1375). The inhabitants of the 
first occupation were culturally affiliated, possibly ancestrally, to 
the people who re-occupied the site after A.D. 1450 during the Brewster 
Phase (A.D. 1450-1550).
    Specific cultural practices, such as the use of black drink, Whelk 
(Busycon) bowls, and repousse copper plates, which are identified with 
the first occupation of Etowah are still evident in Creek communities 
today. The building of earthen works, such as those found at Etowah, 
are considered by Creek communities to be an important part of their 
historic practice and are echoed today in modern Creek architecture.
    In its second phase, Etowah and the geographic areas surrounding it 
are recognized by modern Muscogee speakers as ``daughter'' towns, 
subject to the Coosa chiefdom, which controlled smaller polities 
throughout the region. The term Coosa applies to the core town, the 
local ``province'' and the extended region subject to the control of 
the core town. A ``mother'' town is a town from which other towns 
emerge. ``Daughter'' towns are created when a mother town becomes too 
large; they are politically and culturally linked to the mother town, 
but geographically separate. Linguistic evidence, using historical 
documents, also links the

[[Page 54076]]

place name of Etowah to the Muscogee language.
    Between 1927 and 1928, human remains representing a minimum of five 
individuals were removed from the Little Egypt site in Murray County, 
GA, by Warren King Moorehead of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology. The Little Egypt site is 5 hectares and contains two or 
three platform mounds, which were utilized through the mid-16th 
century. No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary 
objects are present.
    The Little Egypt site is located at the eastern edge of the Coosa 
chiefdom where the Coosawattee River enters the Great Valley. The name 
Coosa applies to the core town, local province, and extended region, 
and was the most politically important chiefdom in southeastern North 
America in the 1500s during the time of occupation of the Little Egypt 
site [Hally et. al., 1989 ]. The oral tradition of Muscogee speakers 
recognizes two ancestral mother towns, Tukabatchee and Coosa, and 
particular individuals in present day Creek communities identify 
themselves as descendants of the mother towns. Muscogee oral tradition 
and historic documents indicate the area in and around Little Egypt as 
the paramount chiefdom of Coosa, home to the chief and the core town. 
Although it cannot be definitively stated that Little Egypt was the 
core town, size and other attributes single it out as an important site 
in the Coosa political landscape.
    The decline in archeological evidence of settlements, including 
public works and burial goods, in the Coosa area in the early 17th 
century suggests population decline and movement, perhaps the result of 
disease. The increase in settlements and the rise of a brushed pottery 
style that appears to be the melding of several Creek styles suggests 
that the inhabitants of 16th and early 17th century communities in the 
Coosa River drainage, as well as those along the Coosawatte and Etowah 
rivers, including the inhabitants at the Little Egypt site, probably 
moved southwest to the Lower Coosa River during the late 17th century 
[Smith, 1987]. Historic documentation indicates that Muscogee speakers 
were living along the Lower Coosa River at the turn of the 18th century 
and were likely the descendants of the inhabitants of the Little Egypt 
site.
    Present-day Creek communities are the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal 
Town, Oklahoma; Kialegee Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Muscogee (Creek) 
Nation, Oklahoma; Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama; and 
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Oklahoma.
    Officials of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains 
described above represent the physical remains of 104 individuals of 
Native American ancestry. Officials of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 
(3)(A), the 21,468 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 a death rite or ceremony. Lastly, officials 
of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology 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-Quassarte 
Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Kialegee Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Muscogee (Creek) 
Nation, Oklahoma; Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama; and 
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Oklahoma.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Victoria Cranner, Senior Collections Manager, 
Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA 
01810, telephone (978) 749-4490 before October 13, 2005. Repatriation 
of the human remains and associated funerary objects to the Alabama-
Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Kialegee Tribal Town, Oklahoma; 
Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma; Poarch Band of Creek Indians of 
Alabama; and Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Oklahoma may proceed after that 
date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology is responsible for 
notifying the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Cherokee Nation, 
Oklahoma; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North Carolina; Kialegee 
Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma; Poarch Band 
of Creek Indians of Alabama; Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Oklahoma; and 
United Keetowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma that this notice 
has been published.

    Dated: August 4, 2005
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 05-18073 Filed 9-12-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S