[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 235 (Wednesday, December 9, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65149-65150]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-29293]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Amherst College Museum of Natural 
History, Amherst College, Amherst, 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 possession and control of the Amherst College Museum of 
Natural History (formerly the Pratt Museum of Natural History), Amherst 
College, Amherst, MA. The human remains and associated funerary objects 
were removed from Cumberland County, ME.
    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 and an inventory of the 
associated funerary objects were made by the staff of the Amherst 
College Museum of Natural History and its agents, in consultation with 
the Wabanaki Intertribal Repatriation Committee, a non-Federally 
recognized Indian group, representing the Federally-recognized 
Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians of Maine, Houlton Band of Maliseet 
Indians of Maine, Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine, and the Penobscot Tribe 
of Maine.
    In 1909, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were excavated from a coastal shell midden on Flagg Island, Cumberland 
County, ME, by Professor Frederic B. Loomis and his associates. The 
human remains have been in the possession of the Amherst College Museum 
of Natural History since that date. No known individual was identified. 
The museum holds 33 cultural objects that were also removed from Flagg 
Island middens in the same season. It is not known whether or not these 
objects come from the same burial or the same site as the human 
remains. Based on their provenience and date of removal, however, the 
museum reasonably believes the cultural items could be associated 
funerary objects. The 33 associated funerary objects are 19 bone awls, 
7 bone tools, 5 hollow bone tools, and 2 blunt horn tools.
    The remains of this one individual are represented by approximately 
54 bones or bone fragments. No cranial or pelvic elements are present 
and neither femur includes a proximal end. Therefore, no data relating 
to sex or age estimation can be gathered. Based on size and long-bone 
epiphyseal closure, however, this individual was most likely an adult.
    A document in the Amherst College Archives, Pratt Museum Papers, 
titled ``Field Record of Specimens from `Sawyer's Island First 
Digging,' a Paleo-Indian Site'', gives the provenience for these 
materials. This ledger records the general location (Flagg Island, 
Maine), approximate date (July or August, 1909), and specimen numbers 
of both the human remains and cultural items. Loomis interpreted the 
material to be Algonquin and the people of the middens to be related to 
the present-day Abnakis of Maine, (see Loomis & Young, American Journal 
of Science, v. 34, p. 41). Loomis concluded that the middens were built 
between 200 to 400 years prior to European contact, A.D. 1627, (see 
Loomis, American Journal of Science, v. 31, p. 227). According to Dr. 
John Stubbs, Jr., Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, the 
presence of pottery fragments found within the Flagg Island midden 
suggests the human remains and cultural items are most likely less than 
2,700 years old. The Federally-recognized Aroostook Band of Micmac 
Indians of Maine, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians of Maine, 
Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine, and the Penobscot Tribe of Maine, 
represented by the Wabanaki Intertribal Repatriation Committee, a non-
Federally recognized Indian group, are widely recognized as having a 
shared cultural relationship with the people of the Ceramic Period of 
Maine (2,000 B.P. to European contact).
    Officials of the Amherst College Museum of Natural History 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 the Amherst College Museum of 
Natural History have also determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 
(3)(A), the 33 objects described above are reasonably believed to have 
been placed with or near the human remains at the time of death or 
later possibly as part of a death rite or ceremony. Lastly, officials 
of the Amherst College Museum of Natural History 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 Federally-
recognized Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians of Maine, Houlton Band of 
Maliseet Indians of Maine, Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine, and Penobscot 
Tribe of Maine, which are represented by the Wabanaki Intertribal

[[Page 65150]]

Repatriation Committee, a non-Federally recognized Indian group.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Tekla A. Harms, Repatriation Coordinator & 
Professor of Geology, Department of Geology, Amherst College, Amherst, 
MA 01002, telephone (413) 542-2711, before January 8, 2010. 
Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects to 
the Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians of Maine, Houlton Band of Maliseet 
Indians of Maine, Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine, and the Penobscot Tribe 
of Maine may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
    The Amherst College Museum of Natural History is responsible for 
notifying the Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians of Maine, Houlton Band 
of Maliseet Indians of Maine, Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine, and 
Penobscot Tribe of Maine that this notice has been published.

    Dated: November 9, 2009.
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-29293 Filed 12-8-09; 8:45 am]
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