[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 38 (Thursday, February 26, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10500-10501]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-04045]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-17551; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology has completed an 
inventory of human remains, in consultation with the appropriate Indian 
tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, and has determined that there 
is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and present-day 
Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. Lineal descendants or 
representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice that wish to request transfer of control of 
these human remains and associated funerary objects should submit a 
written request to the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology. If no 
additional requestors come forward, transfer of control of the human 
remains and associated funerary objects to the lineal descendants, 
Indian tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice 
may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology 
at the address in this notice by March 30, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Ryan J. Wheeler, Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology, Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover, MA 01810, 
telephone (978) 749-4490, 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 and 
associated funerary objects under the control of the Robert S. Peabody 
Museum of Archaeology, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA. The human remains 
were removed from Betheia Farm-Touisett Point #2 site in Warren, 
Bristol County, Rhode Island.
    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.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Robert 
S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology professional staff in consultation 
with representatives of the Wampanoag Repatriation Confederacy, 
representing the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (previously listed as the 
Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc.), the Wampanoag Tribe of 
Gay Head (Aquinnah), and the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation (a 
non-federally recognized Indian group).

History and Description of the Remains

    Maurice Robbins removed human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual from the Betheia Farm-Touisett Point #2 site in Warren, 
Bristol County, RI, which were transferred to the Phillips Academy 
Department of Archaeology (now the Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology) (Peabody Accn. 46/6437) in 1938. The human remains are 
cranial fragments, a humerus, and a femur. The individual is a female 
juvenile or subadult, aged approximately 10 to 11 years old at time of 
death. No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary 
objects are present. Cranial anatomy and teeth are consistent with 
Native American ancestry; physical anthropologist Michael Gibbons, in 
preparing an inventory of the remains, indicates that the individual 
died approximately 400+ years ago.
    Information about the Betheia Farm-Touisett Point #2 site is found 
in the files of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and the 
files of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission 
(site numbers 1349 and 1350). Records at the former institution 
indicate that human remains washed out of the site during a storm and 
were collected by Robbins. The storm event may have been the ``Great 
Hurricane'' of September 1938, though a sketch map on file indicates 
erosion was already occurring in 1937. The site is described as a high 
sandy bluff facing Mount Hope Bay sitting on a very abrupt slope 
approximately 25 feet back from the beach. Robbins noted other 
artifacts from the site including points, hammerstones, fragmentary 
pestle, steatite bowl, and pottery fragments. Additional information 
may be available at the Robbins Museum of Archaeology/Massachusetts 
Archaeological Society in Middleborough, MA (MAS site #M-43/35), though 
no information was available during the preparation of this notice. 
Frank Speck (see his 1928 monograph ``Territorial Subdivisions and 
Boundaries of the Wampanoag, Massachusett, and Nauset Indians,'' Indian 
Notes and Monographs No. 44) places the area around Touisett Point 
within the traditional territory of the Wampanoag. There seems to be 
general agreement among scholars that this area was within the 
territory of the Wampanoag (for example, see Bert Salwen's entry 
``Indians of Southern New England and Long Island: Early Period'' and 
William S. Simmons entry ``Narragansett,'' both appearing in the 1978 
Handbook of North American Indians: Northeast, edited by Bruce G. 
Trigger, and Robert S. Grumet's 1995 book ``Historic Contact: Indian 
Peoples and Colonists in Today's Northeastern United States in the 
Sixteenth through Eighteenth Centuries,'' pages 117-121, 129-133). 
Linguistically this area is within the so-called n-dialect shared by 
Massachusett, Wampanoag, and Pokanoket speakers (see map and discussion 
in Kathleen J. Bragdon's 2009 book ``Native Peoples of Southern New 
England, 1650-1775, pages 22-23). Mount Hope, located near Touisett 
Point in Bristol, Rhode Island, is identified as the home of Wampanoag 
leaders Massasoit and his son Metacomet (also known as King Philip). 
Conflict with English colonists over encroachment into traditional 
lands and attempts to restrict Native people to small reservations 
ignited Metacomet's rebellion or King Philip's War (1675-1676) when the 
Wampanoag were unwilling or unable to relinquish their lands. 
Sociopolitical and economic patterns in the coastal area of Rhode 
Island and Massachusetts were established by the late Woodland period 
circa AD 1000 and the coastal groups in this area are likely the 
ancestors of the Wampanoag people encountered by the English in the 
seventeenth century (for example, see discussion in Bragdon [2009:35-
36]). Archaeology, ethnohistory, linguistics, and oral history provide 
multiple lines of evidence that demonstrate longstanding ties between 
the Wampanoag and the area around Touisett Point and affirm affiliation 
with the burial at the Betheia Farm-Touisett Point #2 site.

Determinations Made by the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology

    Officials of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology have 
determined that:

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     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of one individual of 
Native American ancestry.
     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 
Wampanoag Repatriation Confederacy, representing the Mashpee Wampanoag 
Tribe (previously listed as the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal 
Council, Inc.), the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), and, if 
joined, the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation, a non-federally 
recognized Indian group).

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to Dr. Ryan J. Wheeler, Robert S. Peabody Museum 
of Archaeology, Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover, MA 01810, 
telephone (978) 749-4490, email [email protected], by March 30, 
2015. After that date, if no additional requestors have come forward, 
transfer of control of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects to the Wampanoag Repatriation Confederacy, representing the 
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (previously listed as the Mashpee Wampanoag 
Indian Tribal Council, Inc.), the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head 
(Aquinnah), and, if joined, the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation, a 
non-federally recognized Indian group, may proceed.
    The Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology is responsible for 
notifying the Wampanoag Repatriation Confederacy, representing the 
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (previously listed as the Mashpee Wampanoag 
Indian Tribal Council, Inc.), the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head 
(Aquinnah), and the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation, a non-
federally recognized Indian group, that this notice has been published.

    Dated: January 23, 2015.
Melanie O'Brien,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2015-04045 Filed 2-25-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P