[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 235 (Thursday, December 7, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70981-70982]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-20702]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item: Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 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 a cultural item in the possession of the Peabody Museum
of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, that
meets the definition of ``unassociated funerary object'' under 25
U.S.C. 3001. The cultural item was removed from Plymouth County, MA.
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
item. The National Park Service is not responsible for the
determinations in this notice.
A detailed assessment of the unassociated funerary object was made
by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology professional staff
in consultation with representatives of the Wampanoag Repatriation
Confederation, on behalf of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)
of Massachusetts, Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation (a non-federally
recognized Indian group), and Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe (a non-
federally recognized Indian group).
In 1967, a metal pin (possibly a shroud pin) with fragments of
textile and soil was discovered by the Fernandez Construction Company
in the vicinity of Atkinson Drive in Bridgewater, Plymouth County, MA,
and was donated later that same year to the Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology by Dr. Pierce H. Leavitt, Plymouth County
Medical Examiner. Museum documentation indicates that the metal pin had
been recovered with human remains from a grave. The human remains that
were originally associated with this cultural item were described in a
Notice of Inventory Completion in the Federal Register on August 14,
2003, (FR Doc 03-20754, pages 48626-48634), and have since been
transferred to the culturally affiliated tribe. Therefore, this
cultural item is an unassociated funerary object.
This interment most likely dates to the Historic/Contact period
(post 500 B.P.). This straight pin is of European manufacture and
probably dates from the 17th or 18th century. In a burial context, the
recovery of copper alloy pins and pin fragments, or the presence of
discrete copper staining, suggests the use of such pins to secure
shrouds. Coffin nails were also found with the human remains. The use
of coffins, coffin nails, shrouds, and shroud pins is consistent with
colonial Christian interment customs and suggests this interment dates
from the Historic period. Dr. Dena Dincauze, formerly of the Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, commented that the graves are
likely from the 18th century and that the graves appeared to be
Christian Native American burials.
Oral tradition and historical documentation indicate that
Bridgewater, MA, is within the aboriginal and historic homeland of the
Wampanoag Nation. The present-day Indian tribe and groups that are most
closely affiliated with the Wampanoag Nation are the Wampanoag Tribe of
Gay Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts,
[[Page 70982]]
Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation (a non-federally recognized Indian
group), and Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe (a non-federally recognized
Indian group).
Officials of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology have
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the one cultural
item described above is 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 is 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 Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology have also 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 object and the Wampanoag Tribe
of Gay Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts, and that there is a cultural
relationship between the unassociated funerary object and the Assonet
Band of the Wampanoag Nation (a non-federally recognized Indian group)
and Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe (a non-federally recognized Indian
group).
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary object should
contact Patricia Capone, Repatriation Coordinator, Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue,
Cambridge, MA 02138, telephone (617) 496-3702, before January 8, 2007.
Repatriation of the unassociated funerary object to the Wampanoag
Repatriation Confederation, on behalf of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay
Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts, Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation
(a non-federally recognized Indian group), and Mashpee Wampanoag Indian
Tribe (a non-federally recognized Indian group) may proceed after that
date if no additional claimants come forward.
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is responsible for
notifying the Wampanoag Repatriation Confederation, Wampanoag Tribe of
Gay Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts, Assonet Band of the Wampanoag
Nation (a non-federally recognized Indian group), and Mashpee Wampanoag
Indian Tribe (a non-federally recognized Indian group) that this notice
has been published.
Dated: November 9, 2006.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E6-20702 Filed 12-6-06; 8:45 am]
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