[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 163 (Thursday, August 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 49484]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-19320]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: McWane Science Center, 
Birmingham, AL

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 possession of the McWane Science Center, Birmingham, AL. 
The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from 
Yell County, AR.
    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 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 McWane 
Science Center's professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Quapaw Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma.
    In the early 1900s, human remain representing the minimum of one 
individual were removed from the Carden Bottoms site (3YE14) in Yell 
County, AR. Sometime between 1979 and 1985, G.E. Pilquist, a collector 
from Dardanelle, AR, donated the human remains to the Red Mountain 
Museum, Birmingham, AL. In 1994, the Red Mountain Museum merged with 
the Discovery Place under the name Discovery 2000 Inc., and now 
operates as McWane Science Center. No known individual was identified. 
The five associated funerary objects are three stone beads, one small 
copper bracelet, and one metal cone.
    Museum records state that the human remains were recovered from a 
grave. Diagnostic artifacts indicate that the human remains were 
probably buried after European contact. Physical examination reveals 
the skeletal remains to be those of a child, and burial context 
associates the human remains with Native American populations. 
Archeological evidence indicates a continuity of the site from A.D. 
1350 into the early historic period. The human remains and associated 
funerary objects may be a late component of the Carden Bottoms complex, 
common along the Lower Arkansas River, including Yell County. The 
Quapaw Tribe dominated that area when sustained European occupation of 
the lower Arkansas River began in the mid to late 1600s. In 1818, the 
Quapaw ceded the area south of the Arkansas River, including what is 
now Yell County, to the United States. Based on the geographic evidence 
and the date attributed to the human remains, the human remains are 
most likely culturally affiliated to the Quapaw Tribe of Indians, 
Oklahoma. In addition, the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma has previously 
repatriated human remains from the Carden Bottoms site (3YE14). 
Unassociated funerary objects removed from the Carden Bottoms site are 
described in an accompanying Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural 
Items.
    Officials of McWane Science Center have determined that, pursuant 
to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains described above represent 
the physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry. 
Officials of McWane Science Center also have determined that, pursuant 
to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the five 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 and are believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have 
been removed from a specific burial site of a Native American 
individual. Lastly, officials of McWane Science Center 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 Quapaw 
Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Jun Ebersole, Collections Manager, McWane 
Science Center, 200 19th St. N, Birmingham, AL 35203, telephone (205) 
714-8347, before September 22, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains 
and associated funerary objects to the Quapaw Tribe of Indians, 
Oklahoma may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
    The McWane Science Center is responsible for notifying the Quapaw 
Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma that this notice has been published.

    Dated: July 14, 2008
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-19320 Filed 8-20-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S