[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 210 (Wednesday, October 31, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 61674]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-21381]


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DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: 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. 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, 
Phillips Academy, Andover, MS. The human remains and associated 
funerary objects were removed from Alligator Mounds Site, Bolivar 
County, MS.
    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 Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma; Choctaw Nation 
of Oklahoma; Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, Louisiana; Mississippi Band 
of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi; and Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of 
Louisiana.
    In 1918, human remains representing a minimum of seven individuals 
were removed from the Alligator Mounds Site in Alligator, Bolivar 
County, MS, by Charles Peabody under the auspices of the Robert S. 
Peabody Museum of Archaeology. No known individuals were identified. 
The 24 associated funerary objects are 24 fragmentary faunal remains.
    The Alligator Mounds Site was occupied in the Hushpucken Phase of 
the Late Prehistoric Mississippian Phase (A.D. 1350-1550) based on 
ceramic typologies from the site. The location of Alligator Mounds is 
southwest of the Tunica village of Quizquiz that the Spanish 
encountered in A.D. 1541. Tunica oral history also supports the 
location of the tribe in this area. Both oral tradition and various 
European documents record the movement of the Tunica from this area to 
their current location at Marksville, LA. Descendents of the Tunica 
people are members of the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of Louisiana. The 
individuals from the Alligator Mounds Site are culturally affiliated 
with the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of Louisiana based on oral 
tradition, geographical evidence, and historical evidence of population 
movement.
    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 seven 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 24 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 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 Tunica-Biloxi 
Indian Tribe of Louisiana.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Malinda S. Blustain, Director, Robert S. Peabody 
Museum of Archaeology, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA 01810, telephone 
(978) 749-4490, before November 30, 2007. Repatriation of the human 
remains and associated funerary objects to the Tunica-Biloxi Indian 
Tribe of Louisiana may begin after that date if no additional claimants 
come forward.
    The Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology is responsible for 
notifying the Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma; Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; 
Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, Louisiana; Mississippi Band of Choctaw 
Indians, Mississippi; and Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of Louisiana that 
this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 26, 2007.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-21381 Filed 10-30-07; 8:45 am]
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