[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 107 (Tuesday, June 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25822-25824]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11539]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0027841; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Tennessee Department of 
Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology, Nashville, TN

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, 
Division 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 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 Tennessee Department of Environment and 
Conservation, Division 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 Tennessee Department of Environment and 
Conservation, Division of Archaeology at the address in this notice by 
July 5, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Michael C. Moore, Tennessee Department of Environment and 
Conservation, Division of Archaeology, 1216 Foster Avenue, Cole 
Building 3, Nashville, TN 37243, telephone (615) 687-4776, 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 Tennessee 
Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology, 
Nashville, TN. The human remains and associated funerary objects were 
removed from Rutherford County and Williamson County, TN.
    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.

[[Page 25823]]

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the 
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of 
Archaeology professional staff in consultation with representatives of 
the Cherokee Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; The Chickasaw 
Nation; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; The Osage Nation (previously 
listed as the Osage Tribe); and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee 
Indians in Oklahoma, hereafter referred to as ``The Tribes.''

History and Description of the Remains

    The Fernvale site (40WM51) was excavated by the Division of 
Archaeology in 1985 prior to bridge construction by the Tennessee 
Department of Transportation. This site is located on the west side of 
the South Harpeth River in northwest Williamson County, TN, near the 
community of Fernvale. The final report on the excavation (The Fernvale 
Site (40WM51): A Late Archaic Occupation Along the South Harpeth River 
in Williamson County, Tennessee, edited by A. Deter-Wolf, Tennessee 
Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology 
Research Series No. 19) is available in pdf format on the Division web 
page, at https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/environment/archaeology/documents/researchseries/arch_rs19_fernvale_Rev_2016.pdf.
    Radiocarbon dates and recovered artifacts indicate Fernvale is 
primarily a Late Archaic period site dating 3490 to 3320 BP. All 
removed burials and associated burial objects are consistent with 
previously identified Native American burials and objects dating to the 
Late Archaic period. 33 individuals were removed from 27 pit features. 
Burial 2 comprised an adult female that had been interred with a mature 
dog. No known individuals were identified. A total of 61 associated 
funerary objects were recovered with these individuals. The 62 
associated funerary objects are three bone pins, nine projectile 
points, two polished bone fragments, one ovate knife, one biface, one 
drill, one antler tine, 17 canid phalanges, four bone awls, seven 
fragmented mussel shells, two limestone hoes, four shell beads, two 
hammerstones, one grooved cobble, six fragmented animal bones, and the 
remains of one dog.
    The Arnold site (40WM5) was established on a low ridge along the 
north bank of the Little Harpeth River about a mile southwest of the 
city of Brentwood in northern Williamson County, TN. This site, named 
after the famed singer Eddy Arnold, was excavated in 1965 and 1966 by 
the Southeastern Indian Antiquities Survey Inc. (SIAS) prior to 
construction of a residential subdivision.
    The SIAS excavation is reported to have uncovered 151 stone-box 
graves and the remnants of 17 structures. A report on the SIAS Arnold 
site excavations was published in 1972 as part of the edited volume The 
Middle Cumberland Culture, edited by Robert B. Ferguson, Vanderbilt 
University Publications in Anthropology No. 3, Nashville, TN.
    The stone-box graves and structure architecture indicate Arnold is 
a Mississippian period site. All removed burials and associated burial 
objects are consistent with previously identified late prehistoric 
Native American burials and objects dating roughly A.D. 1200-1450. 
Information regarding the Middle Cumberland Mississippian culture can 
be found in Kevin Smith's 1992 dissertation The Middle Cumberland 
Region: Mississippian Archaeology in North Central Tennessee, 
Vanderbilt University; as well as the 2009 (revised 2012) report 
Archaeological Expeditions of the Peabody Museum in Middle Tennessee, 
1877-1884 by Michael C. Moore and Kevin E. Smith, Tennessee Division of 
Archaeology Research Series No. 16 (available as a free pdf on the 
Division of Archaeology website, at https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/environment/archaeology/documents/researchseries/arch_rs16_peabody_museum_2009.pdf).
    While over 150 burials were reportedly removed during the 1965-1966 
work, the Division of Archaeology holds 19 human individuals from 14 
burials. The remainder of the skeletal collection was held by 
Vanderbilt University. No known individuals were identified. The 
Division has five associated funerary objects recovered with these 
individuals. The five associated funerary objects are three ceramic 
frog-effigy jars and two ceramic effigy hooded bottles.
    The Ryan site (40RD77) was established on a floodplain of Stewart 
Creek in Smyrna, Rutherford County, TN. This site was defined in 1981, 
by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), during planning 
for an interstate connection, and it was excavated in the spring of 
1982, prior to construction. The human remains were transferred to the 
Tennessee Division of Archaeology (TDOA) for curation upon completion 
of the work, although the burial objects were held by TDOT. A report 
was not completed at that time.
    In 2000, the Ryan collection was temporarily transferred to TDOT 
for analysis by Gary Barker and Christopher M. Hazel. Their results 
were published in a 2007 Journal of Alabama Archaeology (JAA) article 
(``Ryan (40RD77): A Late Middle Archaic Benton Culture Cemetery in 
Tennessee's Central Basin''). After completion of the Barker and Hazel 
analysis, the human remains were returned to the TDOA. The JAA article 
listed 23 individuals from 20 burial pits, as well as one human 
cremation (originally designated Feature 4). In 2009 the TDOA requested 
that Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) reanalyze the Ryan human 
remains. This reanalysis identified 20 individuals from the 20 burial 
pits, along with the one Feature 4 human cremation. No known 
individuals were identified.
    The Division documented 22 associated funerary objects recovered 
with these individuals. These 23 associated funerary objects are three 
Benton style darts/knives, one stemmed dart/knife, one unnotched dart/
knife, three shell beads, six drilled canine incisors, one bone atlatl 
hook, two shell pins, two bone pins, one lot of small steatite 
fragments (likely representing a single unknown object), one turkey 
awl, one raccoon baculum, and the remains of one dog.
    The placement of these individuals in flexed burial positions 
within circular burial pits, along with distinctive associated funerary 
objects (including Benton style darts/knives and an atlatl hook), is 
consistent with previously identified Native American burials and 
objects dating to the prehistoric Middle Archaic period. Two 
radiocarbon dates between 4680-4360 B.C. confirm Ryan as a Middle 
Archaic period site.

Determinations Made by the Tennessee Department of Environment and 
Conservation, Division of Archaeology

    Officials of the Tennessee Department of Environment and 
Conservation, Division 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 73 individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 90 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 
Chickasaw Nation.

[[Page 25824]]

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 Michael C. Moore, Tennessee Department of 
Environment and Conservation, Division of Archaeology, 1216 Foster 
Avenue, Cole Building 3, Nashville, TN 37243, telephone (615) 687-4776, 
email [email protected], by July 5, 2019. After that date, if no 
additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to The Chickasaw Nation 
may proceed.
    The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division 
of Archaeology is responsible for notifying The Tribes that this notice 
has been published.

    Dated: May 2, 2019.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2019-11539 Filed 6-3-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P