[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 25, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12896-12897]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-6507]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Georgia Department of Natural 
Resources, Atlanta, GA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    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 Georgia Department of Natural 
Resources, Atlanta, GA. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from Bartow County, 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 Georgia 
Department of Natural Resources professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, 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 
Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.
    In 1954-61, 1962, 1964-65, and 1972-73, human remains representing 
a minimum of 404 individuals were removed from the Etowah Mounds, 
Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site (9BR1) in Bartow County, GA. 
No known individuals were identified. The 187,060 associated funerary 
objects are 1 anvil fragment; 10 bone awls/fragments; 3 stone axes; 129 
copper symbol badges/fragments; 6 woven cane basket fragments; 4 
tortoise shell batons; 2 bone beads; 1 clay bead; 19 copper covered 
wooden beads/fragments; 1 copper bead; 1 blue glass bead; 8,273 pearl 
beads; 159,572 shell beads; 5 wooden beads; 11 stone blades; 2 copper 
covered wooden bodkins; 38 shell bowls/fragments; 1 wooden bowl; 11 
copper celts; 1 iron celt; 22 stone celts/fragments; 2 indeterminate 
celts; 6 chunkey stones; 3 copper covered wood coils; 2 chert core; 23 
quartz crystals; 42 daub samples; 36 ceramic discs; 64 mica discs; 7 
shell discs; 6 stone discs; 5 wooden discs; 2 stone drills; 54 copper 
covered ear discs; 2 mica ear discs; 1 shell ear disc (nos. 3 & 4); 1 
ear disc of undocumented material; 2 wooden ear discs; 1 clay ear 
ornament; 1 copper ear spool; 2 painted stone figures; 50 charcoal 
samples; 75 ethnobotanical remains; 567 cane matting; 3,957 faunal 
remains; 6 split cane fragments; 6 fabric/cloth fragments; 1 fur 
fragment; 567 hair fragments; 3 leather fragments; 3 miscellaneous 
mixed fur/leather/fabric fibers; 2 strings; 3 fibers; 1 bone fish hook; 
233 stone flakes; 24 copper fragments; 10 unfired clay samples; 8 clay 
samples; 19 pigment samples; 4 soil samples; 291 stones; 7 copper 
gorgets/fragments; 39 shell gorgets/fragments; 23 copper hair 
ornaments; 1 tortoise shell hair ornament; 5 hammerstone; 2 copper 
headdresses; 2 mica headdress pieces; 13 fragments from a headdress; 1 
wooden headdress fragment; 11 shell hoes; 3 stone knives; 1 plaster 
cast of a log; 23 copper-covered wooden mask fragments; 1 shell mask; 2 
pieces of cane matting; 6 plaster casts of cane matting; 1 nutting 
stone; 1 baked clay cylinder-shaped object; 61 copper ornaments; 199 
decorations/ornaments/fragments; 4 sun symbols; 17 tortoise shell 
ornaments/fragments; 7 stone paint palettes; 22 shell pendants; 13 bone 
pins/fragments; 1 copper covered wooden pin; 2 ear pins of undocumented 
material; 12 shell ear pins/fragments; 1 tortoise shell pin; 3 ear disc 
pins; 3 wooden pins; 13 ceramic pipes/fragments; 1 pipe fragment; 6 
stone pipes; 12 copper plates; 4 polished stones; 13 antler projectile 
points; 4 bone projectile points; 37 stone projectile points/knives; 2 
quartz crystals; 10 wooden rattle fragments; 1 stone ring; 2 logs; 
1,348 shells/fragments; 10,791 ceramic

[[Page 12897]]

sherds; 10 shell spoons/fragments; 1 wooden tablet; 19 bone tools; 1 
polished bone tube; 3 samples of unidentified material; 27 ceramic 
vessels; 1 sample of material from inside of a copper covered coiled 
wooden object; 41 wood/fragments; 1 worked shell; and 20 miscellaneous 
worked stone/fragments.
    The excavations at the site were primarily conducted at an area 
currently identified as ``Mound C,'' which had previously been 
partially excavated by other agencies, at the edge of Mound B and in 
the ``Village Area'' of the 52-acre historic site. Radiocarbon studies 
indicate that the burials date from A.D. 800 to 1400. The site is 
normally identified as a ``Mississippi Site'' that dates from A.D. 900 
to 1550. There is no absolute archeological proof that links the site 
with any modern day Indian tribe. Evidence in the form of historical 
documents, early maps, and a listing of common lifeway traits were 
presented by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, Poarch Band of 
Creeks, Kialegee Tribal Town, Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, and Alabama-
Quassarte Tribal Town during consultation. Similar information was 
presented by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Eastern Band of Cherokee 
Indians, and United Keetowah Band of Cherokee Indians, who occupied the 
Bartow County area at the time of forced removal (A.D. 1838). However, 
the Cherokee do not have a shared group relationship to the Native 
American human remains described in this notice, as the Cherokee were 
not present in the area prior to approximately A.D. 1450, which post-
dates the burials at Etowah.
    The results of the consultation and studies with the tribes, have 
determined that there is a reasonable belief of a shared group identity 
between the Native American human remains and associated funerary 
objects from the Etowah Mounds and the modern Muscogeean (Creek) 
Tribes. The Muscogeean (Creek) Tribes are represented by 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 Georgia Department of Natural Resources have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains 
described above represent the physical remains of 404 individuals of 
Native American ancestry. Officials of the Georgia Department of 
Natural Resources also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 
(3)(A), the 187,060 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 Georgia Department of Natural Resources 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/or associated 
funerary objects should contact Dr. David Crass, State Archaeologist, 
Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division, 34 
Peachtree Street NW, Suite 1600, Atlanta, GA 30303, telephone (404) 
656-9344, before April 24, 2009. 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 Georgia Department of Natural Resources is responsible for 
notifying the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, 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 Keetoowah Band 
of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma that this notice has been published.

    Dated: March 2, 2009
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-6507 Filed 3-24-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S