[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]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S