[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 38 (Thursday, February 26, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10501-10505]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-04062]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-17550; 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 and associated funerary objects, 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 associated funerary objects 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 
and associated funerary objects were removed from ten sites in 
Massachusetts described here according to site location, county, and 
town, when available.
    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 and associated funerary 
objects was made by the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Wampanoag Repatriation Confederacy, representing the Wampanoag Tribe of 
Gay Head (Aquinnah), Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (previously listed as the 
Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc.), and the Assonet Band of 
the Wampanoag Nation (a non-federally recognized Indian group). 
Inventories of human remains and associated funerary objects from 
Wakefield, Georgetown, Shattuck Farm, Lowell Textile School, Poznick, 
Call, and Indian Rock sites were shared with the Abenaki Nation of New 
Hampshire (a non-federally recognized Indian group) and the Abenaki 
Nation of Missisquoi St. Francis/Sokoki Band (a non-federally 
recognized Indian group) in 1999, but consultation was not conducted 
with these groups.

History and Description of the Remains

Cape Cod-Southeastern Massachusetts

South Dennis

    William W. Taylor removed human remains representing, at minimum, 
one individual at an unknown site in South Dennis, Barnstable County, 
MA, which were acquired by the Phillips Academy Department of 
Archaeology (now the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology) in 1913 
(Peabody Accn. 54612). The human remains are one sternum fragment. The 
individual is a female juvenile to subadult. No known individuals were 
identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    No documentation exists for this site, other than the entries for 
the human remains in the museum catalog. Records indicate that two 
other lots of artifacts were accessioned from the same site, also 
acquired from William W. Taylor, including broken stone implements; 
most of these stone implements were deaccessioned, though one rough 
preform (Peabody Accn. 54613) is still at the museum. The presence of 
stone implements at the site corroborates the

[[Page 10502]]

identification of the remains as Native American. Temporal association 
is not possible. Research by anthropologist 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 South Dennis within the homeland of the Nauset, 
a group historically affiliated with the Wampanoag and Narragansett. 
Speck documents the Mashpee Wampanoag as the descendant community of 
Nauset and other Native American communities of the Cape Cod area after 
1675. Bert Salwen's 1978 entry ``Indians of Southern New England and 
Long Island: Early Period,'' appearing in the Handbook of North 
American Indians: Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger states that the 
indigenous groups in the region extending ``from Saco Bay, Maine, to 
the vicinity of the Housatonic River, in Connecticut, and from Long 
Island inland to southern New Hampshire and Vermont'' shared a cultural 
pattern (page 160-161). Elaborating on the work of Frank T. Siebert, 
Jr., linguist Jessie Little Doe Baird demonstrates linguistic unity 
among Wampanoag, Massachusett, and Pennacook peoples in adjacent parts 
of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, including the area on Cape Cod.

Wareham

    William L. Greene removed human remains representing, at minimum, 
one individual at an unknown site in Wareham, Plymouth County, MA, at 
some time in the 1940s which were acquired by the Robert S. Peabody 
Museum of Archaeology prior to 2000 (Peabody Accn. 204.1). The human 
remains are cranial fragments. The teeth present exhibit wear on the 
deciduous molars and evidence of crowding with the eruption of the 
permanent teeth. The individual is a female juvenile, aged 
approximately 9-10 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.
    Kathryn Fairbanks and David DeMello of the Robbins Museum of 
Archaeology in Middleborough, MA suggested that Greene was digging in 
the 1940s at a site located in Wareham near the Weweantic River called 
Horseshoe or Conant's Hill. Craig S. Chartier, Director of the Plymouth 
Archaeological Discovery Project, had not heard of Greene digging in 
Wareham, but confirmed that Conant's Hill was the focus of burial 
excavations in Wareham in the 1940s. Notes dated 1982 by Maurice 
Robbins confirms that William Greene excavated at that part of Conant's 
Hill known as ``Site 13'' during the period 1940-1946 along with 
members of the Middleboro Archaeology Club (see Massachusetts 
Historical Commission site file for Conant's Hill #19-PL-189). A Notice 
of Inventory Completion published by the Harvard University Peabody 
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in 2003 reported that according to 
museum records a lead ring was found in association with human remains 
at the Conant's Hill site, indicating that at least some of the burials 
at the site date to the Historic/Contact period (post-A.D. 1500). The 
National Register of Historic Places nomination for Conant's Hill 
indicates occupation from 4,500 years ago through A.D. 1650. 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 Wareham within the homeland 
of the Wampanoag.

Merrimack River Valley-Northeastern Massachusetts

Wakefield

    Between 1890 and 1901, Charles Perkins removed human remains 
representing, at minimum, one individual at an unknown site in 
Wakefield, Essex County, MA, which were acquired by the Phillips 
Academy Department of Archaeology (now the Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology) in 1912 (Peabody Accn. 58335). The human remains are three 
fragmentary teeth. The individual is an adult of indeterminate sex. No 
known individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    No documentation exists for this site, other than the entries for 
the human remains in the museum catalog. Perkins collected other Native 
American artifacts from this site (Peabody Accn. 21201 through 21550 
and 22644 through 22925), corroborating the identification of the human 
remains as Native American. Physical examination indicates that the 
remains are likely Native American. Temporal association is not 
possible. 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 
Wakefield within the homeland of the Massachusett. Speck notes that in 
the early seventeenth century the area north of the Charles River 
extending to the region of Lynn and Marblehead was controlled by the 
Massachusett sachem Nanepashemet. This branch of the Massachusetts had 
close relationships with both the Pennacook and Nipmuc. Bert Salwen's 
1978 entry ``Indians of Southern New England and Long Island: Early 
Period,'' appearing in the Handbook of North American Indians: 
Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger states that the indigenous groups 
in the region extending ``from Saco Bay, Maine, to the vicinity of the 
Housatonic River, in Connecticut, and from Long Island inland to 
southern New Hampshire and Vermont'' shared a cultural pattern (page 
160-161). Elaborating on the work of Frank T. Siebert, Jr., linguist 
Jessie Little Doe Baird demonstrates linguistic unity among Wampanoag, 
Massachusett, and Pennacook peoples in adjacent parts of Rhode Island 
and Massachusetts, including the area around Wakefield.

Georgetown

    Mrs. William J. Dow removed human remains representing, at minimum, 
one individual at an unknown site near Georgetown, Essex County, MA, 
which were acquired by the Phillips Academy Department of Archaeology 
(now the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology) in 1924 (Peabody 
Accn. 57205, 57206, and 57207). The human remains are fragments of a 
tibia, fibula, and crania. The individual is a female juvenile to 
subadult. No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary 
objects are present.
    No documentation exists for this site, other than the entries for 
the human remains in the museum catalog. Physical examination indicates 
that the remains are likely Native American. Temporal association is 
not possible.

Shattuck Farm

    In May 1914 and October 1921, human remains representing, at 
minimum, 6 individuals were removed from the Shattuck Farm site, 
Andover, Essex County, MA. The Shattuck Farm site is located on the 
second fluvial terrace at the ``Great Bend'' area on the south side of 
the Merrimack River. Investigations of this site were made by Warren K. 
Moorehead (1914) and Alfred V. Kidder (1921) on behalf of the Phillips 
Academy Department of Archaeology (now the Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology) (Peabody Accn. 55996, 55997, 55998, 59240, 59241, and 
90.121.1 through 90.121.16, and 90.122.1 through 90.122.3 and 
90.124.1). Grave 1 includes two cremation burials: Burial 1 includes 
three fragmentary rib and other calcined bone fragments. The individual 
is an infant of indeterminate sex. Some of the calcined bone fragments 
appear to be

[[Page 10503]]

copper stained. Burial 2 includes a variety of bone fragments from all 
parts of the body, but the fragmentary condition prohibits a detailed 
inventory. The individual represented is a juvenile, possibly a 
subadult of indeterminate sex. Ten associated funerary objects from 
Grave 1 are soil sample (1), pottery sherds (2), fire-cracked stone 
gorget (1), ceramic fragment (1), ochre (2), and unmodified pebbles 
(3). Grave 2 includes two burials: Burial 1 is fragmentary remains 
tentatively identified as a female, 30 years of age; Burial 2 consists 
of fragmentary teeth of a juvenile of indeterminate age. Six associated 
funerary objects are soil sample (1) and pottery sherds (5). Grave 3 
contained a tooth of one sub-adult individual of indeterminate sex. 
Sixty associated funerary objects are bone tool or flint knapping tool 
kit (5), bone harpoon (1), pottery sherds (23), chipped stone biface 
fragment (1), chipped stone flake (1), charcoal sample (1), ochre 
sample (1), felsite and quartz flakes (17), burnt rock fragments (9), 
and soil matrix sample (1). Grave 4 contained the fragmentary remains 
of one adult individual, 30-35 years of age, of indeterminate sex. No 
associated funerary objects are present. No known individuals were 
identified.
    Information about the Shattuck Farm site is found in Barbara E. 
Luedtke's report ``The Camp at the Bend in the River: Prehistory at the 
Shattuck Farm Site,'' published by the Massachusetts Historical 
Commission in 1985, the files of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology, and the files of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, 
(site #19-ES-196). The burials excavated by Alfred Kidder in 1921 were 
located on a sandy knoll near the river, and the notes on file suggest 
he was working on the kame terrace, probably toward the eastern edge of 
the site. Much of this kame terrace has been lost to bulldozing and 
construction and testing at the site by Luedtke in the early 1980s 
indicates considerable horizontal temporal variation across the site, 
including on remaining portions of the kame terrace. For example, 
Luedtke's Locus C and H sampled remaining portions of the kame terrace, 
but found evidence of occupation from Early through Late Woodland times 
(from 2,500 to 350 years ago). Artifacts found with some burials 
excavated by others at Shattuck Farm from the kame terrace dated to the 
period of European Contact, though others may have been much earlier. 
For example, Fred Luce, who excavated in the kame terrace burial area 
about the same time that Warren Moorehead was at the site described one 
burial as a ``red paint grave,'' alluding to the Moorehead Burial 
Tradition known from the Late Archaic. Overall, Shattuck Farm exhibits 
continuous use from the Late Archaic around 6,000 years ago well into 
the seventeenth century.

Lowell Textile School

    At an unknown date, unknown persons removed human remains 
representing, at minimum, one individual at a site located at the 
Lowell Textile School in Lowell, Middlesex County, MA (now the location 
of the North Campus of the University of Massachusetts, Lowell), which 
were acquired by the Phillips Academy Department of Archaeology (now 
the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology) in 1900 from George 
Sawtelle (Peabody Accn. 90.115.1 and 90.120.1). The human remains are 
fragmentary. The individual is an adult female, 30-35 years of age at 
death. The morphology of the palate and the teeth indicate Native 
American ancestry. No known individuals were identified. Associated 
funerary objects are 1 pottery sherd.
    Information about the Lowell Textile School site is found in the 
files of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, records 
maintained by Eugene C. Winter, and the files of the Massachusetts 
Historical Commission, (site #19-MD-46). The Lowell Textile School site 
is located on a high bluff overlooking Pawtucket Falls on the western 
side of the Merrimack River. The site files of the Massachusetts 
Historical Commission describe the site here ``as a large Native 
American village,'' and numerous collections from the site are noted in 
the records. Warren Moorehead, in his 1931 report ``The Merrimack 
Archaeological Survey: A Preliminary Paper'' notes that at the Lowell 
Textile School burials had been found when the boiler house was erected 
and that numerous artifacts could still be located in the area (page 
25). Research by Eugene Winter indicates that the site was likely a 
fishing station to take advantage of the falls and that Passaconaway, 
sachem of the Pawtucket, used this site as his southernmost 
headquarters.

Poznick Site

    In 1978, Eugene C. Winter and Richard ``Scotty'' MacNeish removed 
human remains representing, at minimum, one individual from the Poznick 
site in Lowell, Middlesex County, MA, under the auspices of the Robert 
S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology (now the Robert S. Peabody Museum 
of Archaeology) (Peabody Accn. 90.111.1). The individual is an adult 
male, 40-45 years old at time of death. The human remains are 
fragmentary, but nearly complete. No known individuals were identified. 
No associated funerary objects are present.
    Information about the Poznick site, or Trull Farm site, is found in 
Susan I. Thorstensen's 1977 article ``The Poznick Site: A Preliminary 
Report'' published in The New Hampshire Archeologist (No. 19, paes 9-
16), the files of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, records 
maintained by Eugene C. Winter, who was involved in some excavations at 
the Poznick site, and the files of the Massachusetts Historical 
Commission, (site #19-MD-47). The Poznick site is located downstream 
and on the opposite bank (eastern side) of the Merrimack River from the 
Lowell Textile School site (see above), which has been described as the 
location of a Pawtucket or Pennacook village. Thorstensen's 
excavations, conducted prior to the discovery of the burial, revealed a 
long history of occupation dating back to the Middle Archaic and 
continuing through the Late Archaic and Early and Middle Woodland 
periods as well. Eugene Winter's research indicates that the Poznick 
site may have been on land that was reserved by English law for the 
Native Americans of the village of Wamesit. According to Winter, the 
land at the Poznick site was demarcated by a ditch dug around it (see 
Wilson Waters 1917 book ``History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts,'' page 
78, which mentions a ditch constructed at Wamesit after 1660 and the 
merger of two or more towns, and Charles Cowley's 1868 book ``A History 
of Lowell,'' 2nd revised edition, page 12, which describes the boundary 
ditch that demarcated about 2,500 acres of the Wamesit Indian 
Reservation, still visible in the 1860s).

Call Site, Billerica

    In 1957, Douglas Jordan and Eugene Winter removed human remains 
representing, at minimum, two individuals from the Call site in 
Billerica, Middlesex County, MA, which were transferred to the Robert 
S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology (now the Robert S. Peabody Museum 
of Archaeology) (Peabody Accn. 90.112.1, 90.112.2 and 90.119.1 through 
90.119.8). The Call site is located at a sharp bend four miles upstream 
on the Concord River from its confluence with the Merrimack River. 
Fragmentary remains uncovered during road construction represent an 
adult male and one adult female, 35-40 years of

[[Page 10504]]

age. No known individuals were identified. Sixty-six associated 
funerary objects accompanied the adult male, including chipped stone 
projectile points (2), pottery sherds (2), burned animal bone fragments 
(6), small flat pebbles (2), charcoal sample (1), chipped stone flakes 
(43), and unmodified rocks (10).
    Information about the Call site is found in Walter A. Vossberg and 
J. Alfred Mansfield's 1955 article ``A Preliminary Report on the 
Concord River Site at Billerica, Massachusetts M-11SE9'' and Eugene C. 
Winter's 2006 article, ``An Atlantic Phase Mortuary Feature at the Call 
Site, Billerica, MA,'' both published in the Bulletin of the 
Massachusetts Archaeological Society, from the files of the Robert S. 
Peabody Museum of Archaeology, in notes by Eugene Winter dated August 
23, 1992, undated field notes, and the files of the Massachusetts 
Historical Commission (site #19-MD-37). The Call site is described as 
``a large area 18 inches higher that surrounding plain above swamp to 
north and west which leads to river and brook.'' The site is located on 
the east side of the Concord River. It is important to note that the 
remains and associated funerary objects reported here are not those 
described in Winter's 2006 article; those remains were excavated from 
the same site in 1954. Winter's 1992 notes describe the burials found 
initially by a Mr. Harley McCauley who was digging at the site in an 
area where boulders were exposed above the ground surface. Mr. 
McCauley's digging around the boulders exposed human remains and 
obscured evidence of the original burial pit, which appears to have 
been about 33 inches deep and may have been lined with stone cobbles. 
Unlike the cremation burial reported from the site in Winter's 2006 
article, the two burials reported here appear to have been bundle 
burials; Winter suggests in his 1992 notes that the associated funerary 
objects reported here may have been accidental inclusions in the burial 
pit fill. One of the chipped stone projectile points is identified as a 
Levanna, dating to 1,300 to 600 years ago.

Indian Rock Site, North Billerica

    In the 1880s, James Haulton removed human remains representing, at 
minimum, one individual from the vicinity of Indian Rock in North 
Billerica, Middlesex County, MA, which were acquired by Mrs. Luther W. 
Faulkner and subsequently donated by her to the Billerica Historical 
Society; the dates of Mrs. Faulkner's acquisition and donation are 
unknown. The Billerica Historical Society transferred the remains to 
the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology in 1993 (Peabody Accn. 
90.114). Indian Rock is described as a small island just north of a 
major bend in the Concord River in the vicinity of present-day 
Hampstead Avenue. The individual is an adult male, approximately 50 
years old at time of death. The human remains are a cranium with 
anterior dentition lost during life and evidence of considerable 
periodontal disease. Archival material identifies the remains as those 
of a Native American known as Punjoe or Ponjo who was murdered by white 
settlers near the end of the eighteenth century. No associated funerary 
objects are present.
    Information about the archeological sites recorded in this area are 
found in the files of the Massachusetts Historical Commission (site 
#19-MD-35) and the files of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology. Warren Moorehead, in his 1931 report ``The Merrimack 
Archaeological Survey: A Preliminary Paper'' describes this area as ``a 
long sand ridge flanking the Concord River, and where the dam is 
located were originally falls, also noting that two poorly preserved 
burials were found in the sand ridge, each covered with a thin layer of 
charcoal (page 24). Additional information about Punjoe and the Indian 
Rock site are found in the records of the Billerica Historical Society, 
including an undated transcript of a letter from Mrs. Faulkner (circa 
late nineteenth century), and in the transcript of an address by 
Charles H. Kohlrausch Jr.to the Billerica Historical Society delivered 
June 13, 1903 titled ``A Paper on the Early History of North 
Billerica.'' A similar account is found in the February 1915 edition of 
the monthly leaflet ``Billerica'' (Volume 3, No. 9). Matthew Harvey 
Kohlrausch (son of Charles H. Kohlrausch Jr.) provides a slightly 
different version of the story in his ``Billerica Recollections,'' 
transcribed and on file with the Billerica Historical Society. Each 
version of the story provides a few details and all vary slightly, but 
agree that Punjoe was the last of the Wamesit Indians living in the 
Billerica area who was pursued and murdered by white settlers led by 
members of the Rogers family, down the Concord River after some 
unidentified conflict. The account published in 1915 explains that he 
hid on Indian Rock in order to evade his pursuers, but was discovered, 
shot, and buried on ``a sandy knoll on the east side of the river.'' 
The 1915 account and the 1903 paper by Charles Kohlrausch concur that 
Punjoe's skull and some long bones were removed from his grave and were 
in the possession of the Billerica Historical Society. The 1915 account 
states that other American Indian graves were located in the same 
vicinity. The society no longer had long bones in 1993 when the remains 
were transferred to the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology. The 
undated account (probably written between 1912 and 1929) by Matthew H. 
Kohlrausch asserts that this American Indian individual was pursued and 
killed by Anglo-American settlers after murdering the wife of John 
Rogers; he also notes that his father had the remains for some time, 
but that they were ultimately incinerated. It is worth noting that all 
of these accounts date to sometime in the nineteenth or early twentieth 
centuries after the remains had been excavated and are not contemporary 
with the pursuit and murder being described.
    Wamesit was established in the area now known as Chelmsford as a 
``Praying Indian'' town in 1653 in response to a petition filed by John 
Eliot. Kathleen J. Bragdon, writing in her 2009 book Native People of 
Southern New England, 1650-1775 (page 201) indicates that these Praying 
Indian communities were often comprised of indigenous people of a 
variety of ethnic and linguistic groups. By 1675 the tensions of King 
Philip's War forced native people to abandon towns like Wamesit; in 
1686 tribal leader Wonalancet deeded the remaining Wamesit lands to 
Anglo-American settlers from Chelmsford. The 1695 massacre of John 
Rogers and members of his family while living on the fringes of 
Billerica may likely be the origin of part of the story related by 
Matthew Harvey Kohlrausch, though it would appear there are 
considerable misunderstandings of chronology and events. American 
Indians did, however, continue to live in their historical homelands 
after the demise of the praying communities, though often were 
portrayed as the last of their kind in the literature of the nineteenth 
century. David Steward-Smith notes in his dissertation, cited above, 
that there are at least three stories that describe the persistence of 
Pennacook people in the area along the Merrimack River well into the 
eighteenth century, often recounted as ``lastings'' that describe the 
last of a particular indigenous community (pages 287-288). One 
individual who figures into these stories is Pehaugan or Pehaungun, 
described as ``the last of the Pennacooks,'' who is noted in an 
encounter with Captain Ebenezer Eastman in 1726 on the lands 
historically occupied by Passaconaway and his people. According to 
Nathaniel

[[Page 10505]]

Bouton in his 1856 book ``The History of Concord from its First Grant 
in 1725, to the Organization of the City Government in 1853, with a 
History of the Ancient Pennacooks,'' Pehaungun is described as being 
120 years old; he died in 1732 and was buried by other American Indians 
in the area. Bouton also mentions that Pehaungun and Tahanto, another 
Pennacook leader, provided testimony during the trial of one of an 
Indian accused of the murder of Thomas Dickinson in 1668. Stewart-Smith 
notes the obviously problematical nature of accounts like Bouton's. It 
is possible, however, that accounts of Pehaugan and Tahanto, coupled 
with the discovery of a burial site, may have provided source material 
for the late nineteenth and early twentieth century accounts of 
``Punjoe.''
    The Georgetown, Shattuck Farm, Lowell Textile School, Poznick, 
Call, and Indian Rock sites are within the homeland historically 
occupied by the Pennacook or Pawtucket, who lived in the Merrimack 
River valley and adjacent areas of northeastern Massachusetts and New 
Hampshire. David Steward-Smith, in his 1998 Union Institute 
dissertation ``The Pennacook Indians and the New England Frontier, 
circa 1606-1733'' discusses the coalescence of indigenous groups 
following King Philip's War (1675-1678), including the Nipmuc, 
Wampanoag, Pocumtuck, and Narragansett who sought refuge among the 
Pennacook (p. 339). The historical accounts compiled by Stewart-Smith 
indicate consistent alliances with Abenaki peoples to the north. Bert 
Salwen's 1978 entry ``Indians of Southern New England and Long Island: 
Early Period,'' appearing in the Handbook of North American Indians: 
Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger states that the indigenous groups 
in the region extending ``from Saco Bay, Maine, to the vicinity of the 
Housatonic River, in Connecticut, and from Long Island inland to 
southern New Hampshire and Vermont'' shared a cultural pattern (page 
160-161). Elaborating on the work of Frank T. Siebert, Jr., linguist 
Jessie Little Doe Baird demonstrates linguistic unity among Wampanoag, 
Massachusett, and Pennacook peoples in adjacent parts of Rhode Island 
and Massachusetts, including the area around the Georgetown, Shattuck 
Farm, Lowell Textile School, Poznick, Call, and Indian Rock sites.

Determinations Made by the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology

    Officials of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of 15 individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 143 objects 
described in this notice 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.
     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 Wampaog 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 Wampaog Nation, a 
non-federally recognized Indian group.
    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 Wampaog 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. 2015-04062 Filed 2-25-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P