[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 1, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25738-25739]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-10496]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Yale Peabody 
Museum of Natural History, New Haven, CT

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, in consultation 
with the appropriate Indian tribes, has determined that the cultural 
items meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects and 
repatriation to the Indian tribes stated below may occur if no 
additional claimants come forward. Representatives of any Indian tribe 
that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the cultural 
items may contact the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the cultural items should contact the Yale 
Peabody Museum of Natural History at the address below by May 31, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Professor Derek E.G. Briggs, Director, Yale Peabody Museum 
of Natural History, P.O. Box 208118, New Haven, CT 06520-8118, 
telephone (203) 432-3752.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 
U.S.C. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items in the 
possession of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History that meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 is in possession of the 
Native American cultural items. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    In 1874, six unassociated funerary objects were recovered from the 
area of the John Day River in Grant County, OR,

[[Page 25739]]

by Sam H. Snook. The objects were transferred to the Yale Peabody 
Museum of Natural History in 1874. These objects include two stone 
axes, a stone pestle or hammerstone, two stone pipes, and an obsidian 
knife. Catalog records and historic documentation indicate that the 
objects were recovered from a Native American grave and therefore they 
meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects. The objects were 
recovered within the traditional territory of the Confederated Tribes 
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon, and the Confederated Tribes 
of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (hereafter referred to as 
``The Tribes'').
    In 1880, a Mr. Warfield and Leander Davis collected 108 
unassociated funerary objects from the Pine Mountain area, a locality 
called ``the cove'' in Grant County, OR, and items only attributed to 
Grant County, OR. These objects include sixty-seven obsidian spear 
heads, arrowheads or similar objects; two broken pumice stones marked 
with red ochre; six bone arrowheads; four broken stone pipes; sixteen 
dentalium and other shell beads; and thirteen small items including 
ochre, bone carving fragments, and bone or horn fragments. Documentary 
evidence indicates that these objects were collected from funerary 
contexts and some of the obsidian objects appear to have been melted in 
a fire, possibly a cremation.
    Based on museum catalog records of the objects, the geographic 
origin of the objects, and the description of the traditional territory 
of The Tribes, these objects are believed to be culturally affiliated 
with The Tribes.

Determinations Made by the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

    Officials of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 114 cultural items 
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.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary objects and The Tribes.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Professor Derek E.G. Briggs, Director, Yale Peabody Museum of 
Natural History, P.O. Box 208118, New Haven, CT 06520-8118, telephone 
(203) 432-3752 before May 31, 2012. Repatriation of the unassociated 
funerary objects to The Tribes may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History is responsible for 
notifying The Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: April 26, 2012.
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2012-10496 Filed 4-30-12; 8:45 am]
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