[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 23 (Wednesday, February 4, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6109-6110]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02218]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-17479; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Tennessee Valley Authority, 
Knoxville, TN

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has completed an 
inventory of human remains in consultation with the appropriate 
federally recognized Indian tribes and has determined that there is no 
cultural affiliation between the human remains and any present-day 
federally recognized Indian tribes. Representatives of any federally 
recognized Indian tribe not identified in this notice that wish to 
request transfer of control of these human remains should submit a 
written request to TVA. If no additional requestors come forward, 
transfer of control of the human remains to the federally recognized 
Indian tribes stated in this notice may proceed.

DATES: Representatives of any federally recognized Indian tribe not 
identified in this notice that wish to request transfer of control of 
these human remains should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to TVA at the address in this notice by March 6, 
2015.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Thomas O. Maher, TVA, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT11D, 
Knoxville, TN 37902-1401, telephone (865) 632-7458, email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 under 
the control and possession of TVA. The human remains were likely 
removed from the Citico site, 40MR7, in Monroe County, TN, as a result 
of unauthorized digging. The human remains were anonymously delivered 
to TVA in the 1990s.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3) and 
43 CFR 10.11(d). 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.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by TVA's 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Absentee 
Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas (previously 
listed as the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas); Alabama-Quassarte 
Tribal Town; Cherokee Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Eastern 
Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Kialegee Tribal Town; Poarch Band of Creeks 
(previously listed as the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama); 
Shawnee Tribe; The Chickasaw Nation; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; The 
Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; Thlopthlocco Tribal Town; and the United 
Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

History and Description of the Remains

    TVA has in its control and possession human remains representing, 
at minimum, 12 individuals. All are adults. Four have been determined 
to be female and two to be male. The sex of the other 6 individuals is 
indeterminate. Composed primarily of cranial bones, oral history 
indicates that the human remains were sent to the Tennessee Valley 
Authority after November 16, 1990, but excavated before the passage of 
NAGPRA. These human remains likely resulted from the unauthorized 
digging that took place at the Citico site between 1968 and 1978. Their 
context within the site and chronological placement is unknown.
    The Citico site was excavated by the University of Tennessee in 
1967 and 1968 under a contract with the National Park Service. The site 
was exposed using heavy equipment and the excavation focused on 
features, burials, and mound stratigraphy. These excavations were a 
result of the impoundment of the Little Tennessee River as part of 
TVA's Tellico Dam and Reservoir project. Subsequent to the professional 
excavation, the site was damaged by unauthorized digging.
    Excavations at the Citico site revealed two dominate occupations: A 
Mississippian Dallas phase occupation (A.D. 1300-1550) and a later 
eighteenth century Overhill Cherokee occupation. Since no funerary 
objects accompanied these human remains, it is not known if they were 
derived from the Dallas phase or the historic Cherokee occupation. The 
lack of any detailed information on these human remains leads TVA to 
designate them as culturally unidentifiable.

[[Page 6110]]

Determinations Made by the Tennessee Valley Authority

    Officials of TVA have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice are Native American based on their presence in 
prehistoric archeological contexts.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of 12 individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), a relationship of shared 
group identity cannot be reasonably traced between the Native American 
human remains and any present-day Indian tribe.
     According to final judgments of the Indian Claims 
Commission or the Court of Federal Claims, the land from which the 
Native American human remains were removed is the aboriginal land of 
the Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the United 
Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1)(ii), TVA has decided to 
transfer control of the culturally unidentifiable human remains to the 
Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the United 
Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any federally recognized Indian tribe not 
identified in this notice that wish to request transfer of control of 
these human remains should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to Dr. Thomas O. Maher, TVA, 400 West Summit 
Hill Drive, WT11D, Knoxville, TN 37902-1401, telephone (865) 632-7458, 
email [email protected], by March 6, 2015. After that date, if no 
additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains to the Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, 
and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma may 
proceed.
    TVA is responsible for notifying the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of 
Oklahoma; Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas (previously listed as the 
Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas); Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; 
Cherokee Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Eastern Shawnee 
Tribe of Oklahoma; Kialegee Tribal Town; Poarch Band of Creeks 
(previously listed as the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama); 
Shawnee Tribe; The Chickasaw Nation; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; The 
Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; Thlopthlocco Tribal Town; and the United 
Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: January 13, 2015.
Melanie O'Brien,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2015-02218 Filed 2-3-15; 8:45 am]
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