[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]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S