[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 155 (Tuesday, August 11, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48553-48554]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-17488]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0030598; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Bruce Museum, Inc., Greenwich, CT

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Bruce Museum 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 
Bruce Museum. 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 Bruce Museum at the address in this 
notice by September 10, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Kirsten J. Reinhardt, NAGPRA Coordinator, Bruce Museum Inc., 
1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT 06830, telephone (203) 413-6770, 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 Bruce Museum Inc., 
Greenwich, CT. The human remains and associated funerary objects were 
removed from Goat Rock Dam Site, Lee 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 the Bruce 
Museum professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas (previously listed as Alabama-
Coushatta Tribes of Texas); Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Coushatta 
Tribe of Louisiana; and The Muscogee (Creek) Nation (hereafter referred 
to as ``The Consulted Tribes'').

History and Description of the Remains

    At an unknown date, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed from Lee County, AL. The human remains, 
together with associated funerary objects, were donated to the Bruce 
Museum in April 1956, by sisters Elizabeth Barton and Edith Hoisington, 
who were active in the Ernest Thompson Seton Woodcraft Indian 
organization. Based on museum records, the site from which the human 
remains and objects were collected may reasonably be located on the 
west bank of the Chattahoochee River, near the outlet of Soap Creek, 
and in the vicinity of the Goat Rock Dam. Exhibition labels and 
accession cards read: ``From a burial uncovered in the excavations of 
the Goat River (sic) Dam in Alabama.'' Goat Rock Dam, located on the 
Chattahoochee River, was completed in 1912, and created Goat Rock Lake. 
The caption on an undated photograph associated with this collection 
reads, ``The Creek at Indian Mound, Alabama, where the Cranium and 
pieces of pottery were found,'' and in the background of the photo, the 
dam is visible. Tchuko `Lako, a Lower Creek town on the Chattahoochee 
River settled by Okfuskee Indians, may reasonably be identified with a 
mound and village site located near the mouth of the Waucooche Creek, 
just north of Goat Rock Dam. The Okfuskee, a Muscogee tribe, formed 
part of the former Creek (Muscogee) Confederacy in Alabama prior to 
their removal to the Indian Territory during the 1830s.
    The human remains were determined to be Native American by 
Connecticut State Archaeologist, Nicholas Bellantoni, who performed a 
skeletal and dentition analysis on October 25, 1995, together with Ed 
Sarabia, Tlingit, Indian Affairs Coordinator, Connecticut Commission on 
Indian Affairs. The human remains are comprised of one

[[Page 48554]]

cranial vault (frontal, left and right parietal partial occipital 
bones), and belong to a male 40-50 years old. No known individual was 
identified. The 32 associated funerary objects are 28 potsherds, three 
lithic implements, and one ceramic disk or gaming piece. The presence 
of pottery suggests a Woodland/Mississippian date for the human 
remains.
    Geographical, oral traditional, and archeological information, in 
addition to the known historical presence of the Muscogee (Creek) 
Nation in the area encompassing the State of Alabama, support a 
relationship of shared group identity which can be reasonably traced 
between the present-day Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the pre-contact 
confederacy known as the Lower Creeks, who established Etulwas (tribal 
towns) along the Chattahoochee River in the region of present-day Lee 
County.

Determinations Made by the Bruce Museum, Inc.

    Officials of the Bruce Museum, Inc. have determined that:
     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(3)(A), the 32 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 Muscogee 
(Creek) Nation.

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 Kirsten J. Reinhardt, NAGPRA Coordinator, Bruce 
Museum Inc.,1 Museum Drive, Greenwich, CT 06830, telephone (914) 671-
9321, email [email protected], by September 10, 2020. After 
that date, if no additional requestors have come forward, transfer of 
control of the human remains and associated funerary objects to The 
Muscogee (Creek) Nation may proceed.
    The Bruce Museum, Inc. is responsible for notifying The Consulted 
Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: July 7, 2020.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2020-17488 Filed 8-10-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P