[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 36 (Friday, February 24, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11627-11628]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-03606]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-22597; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Arkansas 
Archeological Survey, Fayetteville, AR

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Arkansas Archeological Survey, in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has 
determined that the cultural items listed in this notice meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or 
representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items 
should submit a written request to the Arkansas Archeological Survey. 
If no additional claimants come forward, transfer of control of the 
cultural items 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 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to the Arkansas Archeological 
Survey at the address in this notice by March 27, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Dr. George Sabo, Director, Arkansas Archeological Survey, 
2475 North Hatch Avenue, Fayetteville, AR 72704, telephone (479) 575-
3556.

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 under the 
control of the Arkansas Archeological Survey 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 has control 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

    At an unknown date, six cultural items were removed from unknown 
areas in southern Arkansas. These cultural items were given to Southern 
Arkansas University at an unknown date, and donated to the Arkansas 
Archeological Survey in 2016. The six unassociated funerary objects are 
one East Incised fragmentary jar, one East Incised bowl, one Nash Neck 
Banded jar, one effigy jar, one plain bowl, and one Hempstead Engraved 
bottle (Catalog #95-440-49, 50, 52, 55, 60, 61).
    The pottery types are well known examples of Caddo traditional 
wares. East Incised and Hempstead Engraved finewares are found 
throughout Southwest Arkansas, along the Red River Valley in the 
vicinity of the Great Bend, and into adjoining corners of Texas, 
Louisiana, and Oklahoma. The time spans for the types overlap, with 
East Incised associated with the East Phase and ranging between A.D. 
1100 and 1400, Hempstead Engraved is associated with the Haley Phase as 
well as the East Phase and was made between about A.D. 1200 and 1450. 
Nash Neck Banded was made in the 15th and 16th centuries. All three 
types were made before European contact and during the Caddo tradition.
    The Caddo archeological tradition developed between A.D. 900 and 
1000 in the four corners region of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and 
Oklahoma. Distinctive characteristics include a dispersed residential 
settlement of families with a lifestyle grounded in farming and 
collecting wild plants and animals. The core of community life was a 
religious and political center with ceremonial and burial mounds, 
public areas for community events and rituals, and a small residential 
population believed to be religious and political leaders and their 
families. Caddo ceramics are highly distinctive with dual manufacturing 
traditions that produced both refined wares decorated with complex 
stylized incised and engraved designs and utilitarian wares with highly 
plastic incised, punctuated, and brushed designs that are dominated by 
geometric motifs.
    The Caddo continued to practice traditional settlement arrangements 
and material crafts well into the contact period. This is confirmed in 
part by past discoveries of distinctive Caddo ceramics and other 
artifacts found with European trade items in locations where French and 
Spanish observers

[[Page 11628]]

documented their settlements. There is thus a strong material link 
between historic Caddo Tribal communities and pre-contact archeological 
remains. The collection enumerated here is entirely typical of pre-
contact Caddo Tradition material culture.

Determinations Made by the Arkansas Archeological Survey

    Officials of the Arkansas Archeological Survey have determined 
that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 6 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 Caddo Nation of Oklahoma.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Dr. George Sabo, Director, Arkansas 
Archeological Survey, 2475 North Hatch Avenue, Fayetteville, AR 72704, 
telephone (479) 575-3556, by March 27, 2017. After that date, if no 
additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control of the 
unassociated funerary objects to the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma may 
proceed.
    The Arkansas Archeological Survey is responsible for notifying the 
Caddo Nation of Oklahoma that this notice has been published.

    Dated: December 19, 2016.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2017-03606 Filed 2-23-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P