[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 82 (Monday, April 29, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18082-18084]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-08590]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0027607, PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


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

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

[[Page 18083]]


ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) 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 TVA. 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 TVA at the address in this notice by May 29, 
2019.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Thomas O. Maher, TVA, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT11C, 
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 and 
associated funerary objects under the control of Tennessee Valley 
Authority, Knoxville, TN. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from an archeological site in Marshall County, AL.
    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 TVA 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Alabama-Coushatta Tribe 
of Texas (previously listed as the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas); 
Cherokee Nation; Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; Eastern Band of Cherokee 
Indians; Poarch Band of Creeks (previously listed as the Poarch Band of 
Creek Indians of Alabama); The Chickasaw Nation; The Choctaw Nation of 
Oklahoma; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; 
and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma 
(hereafter referred to as ``The Consulted Tribes'').

History and Description of the Remains

    This site was excavated as part of TVA's Guntersville Reservoir 
project by the Alabama Museum of Natural History (AMNH) at the 
University of Alabama, using labor and funds provided by the Works 
Progress Administration. Details regarding the excavations and sites 
may be found in ``An Archaeological Survey of Guntersville Basin on the 
Tennessee River in Northern Alabama,'' a report by William S. Webb and 
Charles G. Wilder. The human remains and associated funerary objects 
excavated from the sites listed in this notice have been in the 
physical custody of the AMNH at the University of Alabama since they 
were excavated.
    From May to August, 1937, human remains representing, at minimum, 
31 individuals were removed from the McKee Island site, 1MS32, in 
Marshall County, AL. TVA acquired the site on November 12, 1936, as 
part of the Guntersville Reservoir project. This midden-rich village 
extended 800 feet along a ridge of the now-inundated McKee Island. 
These 31 individuals were removed from historic Native American 
burials. The human remains represent adults, juveniles, and infants of 
both sexes. The 3,629 associated funerary objects include: One antler 
tool, one bear tooth pendant, 269 brass beads, 12 brass bells, five 
brass bracelets, seven brass bracelet fragments, three brass collar 
fragments, seven brass cones, four brass disks, one brass gorget, 15 
brass ornament fragments, two brass sheet metal, 14 chert bifaces, 10 
chert cores, one chert hammerstone, seven chert flakes, four chert 
preforms, 16 chert scrapers, four chert unifaces, one conch shell cup, 
one copper band, 110 copper beads, six copper discs, eight perforated 
copper discs, one copper gorget, one ceramic elbow pipe, three pieces 
of fabric, one piece of fabric with copper beads, 2,776 glass beads, 
one ground limonite nodule, two Guntersville PP/K, five iron axes, one 
iron band, five iron bracelets, two iron hoes, one iron knife blade, 11 
iron ornament fragments, two pieces of unidentified iron, one McKee 
Island Plain bowl, two PP/K, one red ocher, 298 shell beads, one shell 
gorget, one shell pin, three tested cobbles, and one tested pebble.
    Although there are no radiocarbon dates from this site, Jon 
Marcoux's study of glass beads from 1MS32 indicates a historic 
occupation in the range of A.D. 1650-1750. Similarly, analysis of the 
brass bells recovered from this site suggests an occupation range from 
the late 1600s through the 1700s. During this period, multiple tribes 
were using the Guntersville Reservoir area. Spanish explorers of the 
16th century and French explorers of the 17th and 18th century 
chronicle the presence of chiefdom-level tribal entities in the 
southeastern United States that resemble the historic Native American 
chiefdoms. Linguistic analysis of the place names noted by multiple 
Spanish explorers indicates that Koasati-speaking groups inhabited 
northeastern Alabama. Early maps and research into the historic Native 
American occupation of northeastern Alabama further indicate that the 
Koasati (as called by the English) or the Kaskinampo (as called by the 
French) were found at multiple sites in Jackson and Marshall Counties 
in the 17th and 18th centuries. Oral history, traditions, and expert 
opinions of the descendants of Koasati/Kaskinampo indicate that this 
portion of the Tennessee River valley was a homeland of each of their 
Tribes, and that by the middle 1700s, the Koasati/Kaskinampo were 
leaving the Tennessee River valley and moving south.
    Both British and American historians indicate that some of the 
Cherokee were leaving their traditional Tribal lands in the Appalachian 
Mountains and the Little Tennessee River watershed in the 1700s. In the 
1770s, a group of Cherokee (often designated the Chickamauga in 
historical documents) had relocated to areas northeast of the current 
city of Chattanooga. Reprisals by American militia for Cherokee support 
of the British during the American Revolution forced these Cherokee 
farther down the Tennessee River; by 1785, there were named Cherokee 
villages in the Guntersville Reservoir area. Cherokee oral traditions 
indicate that by 1755, the Cherokee were displacing groups often called 
``Creeks'' in the historical documents in Georgia and Alabama. The 
timing of this transition is not clear. Although conflict is reported 
in historical documents, there were also periods when these groups 
peacefully occupied Marshall County together.

[[Page 18084]]

    A relationship of shared group identity can reasonably be traced 
between these modern Tribes and the human remains and associated 
funerary objects of the early historic period. The evidence indicates 
that the cultural items from historic burials at 1MS32 are culturally 
affiliated with Native Americans descendants of the Koasati/Kaskinampo 
or the Cherokee. These descendants include the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe 
of Texas (previously listed as the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas); 
Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Cherokee Nation; Coushatta Tribe of 
Louisiana; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; The Muscogee (Creek) 
Nation; and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

Determinations Made by the Tennessee Valley Authority

    Officials of the Tennessee Valley Authority have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of 31 individuals of 
Native American ancestry based on their presence in an early historic 
archeological site and osteological analysis.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 3,629 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), TVA has determined by a 
reasonable belief, given the totality of circumstances, that these 
remains and objects are culturally affiliated with the Alabama-
Coushatta Tribe of Texas (previously listed as the Alabama-Coushatta 
Tribes of Texas); Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Cherokee Nation; 
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; The 
Muscogee (Creek) Nation; and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee 
Indians in 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 
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. Thomas O. Maher, TVA, 400 West Summit 
Hill Drive, WT11C, Knoxville, TN 37902-1401, telephone (865) 632-7458, 
email [email protected], by May 29, 2019. After that date, if no 
additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of these 
human remains and associated funerary objects to the Alabama-Coushatta 
Tribe of Texas (previously listed as the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of 
Texas); Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Cherokee Nation; Coushatta Tribe 
of Louisiana; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; The Muscogee (Creek) 
Nation; and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma 
may proceed.
    The Tennessee Valley Authority is responsible for notifying The 
Consulted Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: April 2, 2019.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2019-08590 Filed 4-26-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P