[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 121 (Thursday, June 24, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36110-36111]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-15286]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion: New York University College of
Dentistry, New York, NY
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 in the possession and
control of the New York University College of Dentistry, New York, NY.
The human remains were removed from Broward and Levy Counties, FL, and
an unknown mound in East Florida.
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. The National Park Service is not responsible
for the determinations in this notice.
A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the New York
University College of Dentistry professional staff in consultation with
representatives of the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Choctaw
Nation of Oklahoma; Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, Louisiana; Kialegee
Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida;
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi; Muscogee (Creek)
Nation, Oklahoma; Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama; Seminole
Nation of Oklahoma; Seminole Tribe of Florida (Dania, Big Cypress,
Brighton, Hollywood & Tampa Reservations); and Thlopthlocco Tribal
Town, Oklahoma.
In 1937, human remains representing a minimum of one individual
were removed from a mound at Lettuce Lake, (8Bd7), Broward County, FL.
The mound was excavated by Geoffrey Olson and William C. Orchard as
part of an expedition sponsored by the Museum of the American Indian,
Heye Foundation. The remains were accessioned by the Museum of the
American Indian in 1937. In 1956, the Museum of the American Indian
transferred the remains to Dr. Theodore Kazamiroff, New York University
College of Dentistry. No known individual was identified. No associated
funerary objects are present.
Artifacts recovered from the mound indicate that it dates to the
Glades IIIa Period, A.D. 1200-1400, and is a Glades culture site of the
Glades Tradition. The morphology of the remains is consistent with an
individual of Native American ancestry. There is evidence for cultural
continuity between the Glades IIIa Period and the post-contact people
of the Broward County area. In the Historic Period, the area around
Broward County is identified as Tequesta territory. In 1513, Tequesta
villages were described in the records of the Ponce de Leon expedition.
The Tequesta suffered from diseases and other disrupting forces of
European contact, and, by 1743, a distinct group that could be
identified as Tequesta had disappeared. In 1763, the remnant
communities of Native Floridians in south Florida were taken to Cuba
when Florida was transferred from Spanish to British control.
At an unknown date, human remains representing a minimum of one
individual were removed from a mound at Hog Island, Levy County, FL. It
is likely that the remains were collected by William Bryant in 1918.
The remains from Hog Island were in the collection of William L. Bryant
when it was sold to the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation
in 1920. In 1956, the Museum of the American Indian transferred the
remains to Dr. Theodore Kazamiroff, New York University College of
Dentistry. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary
objects are present.
Hog Island is located within the North Peninsular Coast region.
Florida state site files identify a Weeden Island Period burial mound,
8Lv2, on Hog Island. Artifacts from the mound indicate that it is
associated with the Weeden Island 2 phase of the Weeden Island I
Period, circa A.D. 150-450. The morphology of the remains is consistent
with an individual of Native American ancestry. During the Weeden
Island II Period (circa A.D. 600-1200), the North Peninsular coastal
region of Florida remained a distinct region. The cultural sequence
after A.D. 1200 is difficult to determine. The Safety Harbor culture to
the south, the Northwest Florida cultures to the northwest, and Alachua
culture to the east abut the region, but do not extend into the
Northwest Peninsular Coast area. The early Spanish explorations of
Ponce de Leon, Narvaez, and DeSoto did not enter the coastal Northwest
Florida Peninsular areas. The Spanish did not establish any missions in
the region after claiming La Florida. As a result, there is no
information from early colonial documents regarding any people living
in this region. This stands in marked contrast to the records for the
area from Tampa Bay to the south and for the northwest coast of
Florida. There are also no records to identify people from the region
in subsequent French or English documents. It is likely that
inhabitants of the Northwest Peninsular Coast quickly felt the effects
of European diseases that were introduced by the Spanish in the early
16th century. As in other portions of Florida,
[[Page 36111]]
their communities probably shrank in size until only a small portion of
the original population was left. These people may have sought refuge
elsewhere in Florida, but were never identified.
In 1920, human remains representing a minimum of seven individuals
were removed from an unidentified mound in East Florida by Charles
Hallock. The remains and objects from the mound were loaned by the Long
Island Historical Society (now the Brooklyn Historical Society) to the
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation in 1920. According to
archival records, the loan was made permanent in 1967. In 1956, the
Museum of the American Indian transferred the remains to Dr. Theodore
Kazamiroff, New York University College of Dentistry. No known
individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are
present.
The specific site and age for the remains is not known, but the
morphology of the remains is consistent with individuals of Native
American ancestry. In prehistoric cultural sequences, the area of
eastern Florida is identified with the St. Johns culture, whose
territory lay in the portions of eastern and central Florida where the
St. Johns River and its tributaries flow. The St. Johns tradition first
appeared around 500 B.C. and continued until European contact. It is
divided into several periods, all of which include burial mounds. In
16th century records, the people living in the St. Johns River area are
identified as the Timucua. Historic mission records suggest that
diseases introduced between 1562 and 1595 had decimated the population
in the St. Johns River area. Additional epidemics in the first half of
the 17th century resulted in massive population loss and changes to the
diet, health, economy, and religion of the Timucua. In 1684, the
British began to attack the Spanish missions where the Timucua were
living in order to gain control of Florida. At the same time, the
missions were also subject to slave raiding by tribes from the north.
By 1704, all missions but St. Augustine were destroyed and the
remaining Timucua took refuge at it. In 1711, only 942 Timucua and
Apalachee were living around St. Augustine. Slave raiding, disease, and
English attacks further reduced the population; by 1759, only 59
Timucua and Apalachee remained at St. Augustine. The Spanish withdrew
from St. Augustine between 1763-1764, taking the 89 Indians from St.
Augustine with them to Cuba.
In all three sites mentioned-above, the population vacuum created
by the absence of Florida tribal groups opened the state to migration
by the Lower Creek. The first Creek settlements were located in
northern Florida. Conflicts with the British, and then the American
government, pushed the Creek into the southern half of the state. These
Creek communities grew independent of Creek nations to the north and
became known as the Seminole and Miccosukee.
Officials of the New York University College of Dentistry have
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains
described above represent the physical remains of nine individuals of
Native American ancestry. Officials of the New York University College
of Dentistry also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2),
a relationship of shared group identity cannot reasonably be traced
between the Native American human remains and any present-day Indian
tribe.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review
Committee (Review Committee) is responsible for recommending specific
actions for disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains. In
July 2009, the New York University College of Dentistry requested that
the Review Committee recommend disposition of the culturally
unidentifiable human remains of nine individuals to the Miccosukee
Tribe of Indians of Florida. The Review Committee considered the
proposal at its October 30-31, 2009, meeting and recommended
disposition of the human remains to the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of
Florida.
A March 4, 2010, letter from the Designated Federal Official,
writing on behalf of the Secretary of the Interior, transmitted the
authorization for the College to effect disposition of the human
remains to the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida contingent on the
publication of a Notice of Inventory Completion in the Federal
Register. This notice fulfills that requirement.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Dr.
Louis Terracio, New York University College of Dentistry, 345 East 24th
St., New York, NY 10010, telephone (212) 998-9917, before July 26,
2010. Disposition of the human remains to the Miccosukee Tribe of
Indians of Florida may proceed after that date if no additional
claimants come forward.
The New York University College of Dentistry is responsible for
notifying the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Choctaw Nation
of Oklahoma; Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, Louisiana; Kialegee Tribal
Town, Oklahoma; Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida; Mississippi
Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi; Muscogee (Creek) Nation,
Oklahoma; Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama; Seminole Nation of
Oklahoma; Seminole Tribe of Florida (Dania, Big Cypress, Brighton,
Hollywood & Tampa Reservations); and Thlopthlocco Tribal Town,
Oklahoma, that this notice has been published.
Dated: June 18, 2010
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2010-15286 Filed 6-23-10; 8:45 am]
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