[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 181 (Thursday, September 17, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58070-58072]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-20514]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0030627; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and 
Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and Robert S. Peabody 
Institute of Archaeology, Andover, MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard 
University and Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology have 
completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary 
objects, in consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, and has 
determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human 
remains and associated funerary objects and present-day Indian Tribes. 
Representatives of any Indian Tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects may contact the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 
Harvard University or the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology. 
Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects to 
the Indian Tribes stated below may occur if no additional claimants 
come forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian Tribe that believes it has a 
cultural

[[Page 58071]]

affiliation with the human remains and associated funerary objects 
should contact the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard 
University or the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology at the 
addresses below by October 19, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Patricia Capone, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and 
Ethnology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, 
telephone (617) 496-3702; Ryan Wheeler, Robert S. Peabody Institute 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 under 
the control of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard 
University, Cambridge, MA; and of the completion of an inventory of 
associated funerary objects under the control of the Robert S. Peabody 
Institute of Archaeology, Andover, MA. The human remains and associated 
funerary objects were removed from the Taylor Hill site in Wellfleet, 
Barnstable County, MA.
    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 Peabody 
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology professional staff in consultation 
with representatives of the Wampanoag Repatriation Confederation on 
behalf of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (previously listed as Mashpee 
Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc.); Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head 
(Aquinnah); and the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation, a non-
federally recognized Indian group.

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1945, human remains representing at minimum, three individuals 
were removed from Taylor Hill in Wellfleet, Barnstable County, MA. 
These human remains were inadvertently discovered during a construction 
project on the private property of Roderick Angus. Angus donated the 
remains to the Museum. No known individuals were identified. The three 
associated funerary objects are a fragmentary celt, a whetstone, and a 
mackerel shark tooth are in the custody of the Robert S. Peabody 
Institute of Archaeology, Andover, MA. A triangular point also from the 
burial was not located at the Peabody Institute or the Peabody Museum.
    Based on artifact characteristics and radiocarbon dating, burials 
from the Taylor Hill site are dated to the late Middle Woodland period 
(ca. 1300-1100 B.P.). Close study of these sites in recent years 
supports a reassessment of Woodland Period cultural continuity in this 
area of Cape Cod, known as the Outer Cape. Generally, the Middle 
Woodland Period in Massachusetts is characterized by a partial 
integration of horticultural activities into a largely hunting-fishing-
gathering lifestyle with notably limited evidence for permanent village 
sites. Inferences made from archeological data indicate that the 
geographic and social boundaries continued to be fluid in comparison to 
the rigid political boundaries in place during the Contact Period. 
Ongoing assessments of archeological data from the Outer Cape, however, 
indicate that year-round occupation of sites and use of specialized 
processing sites began there during the Middle Woodland. During this 
period, the conditions of the Outer Cape became more predictable with 
the formation of stable marsh and estuary environments. Archeological 
evidence from the Taylor Hill area specifically demonstrates a related 
change in settlement patterns and material culture. Residents there 
took advantage of these environmental conditions in favor of long-term 
settlement. The year-round exploitation of the environmental diversity 
of the outer Cape Cod region, both marine and terrestrial, which began 
in the Middle Woodland period and continued through the Late Woodland 
and Contact periods, is the hallmark of Outer Cape Wampanoag 
subsistence patterns. The Middle Woodland inhabitants of the Taylor 
Hill area, therefore, established a formal connection with the 
geographic area that continued into later periods. Related to this 
localized change in subsistence patterns, the mortuary practices of the 
Taylor Hill area differ from those of Middle Woodland sites in other 
areas. Generally, Middle Woodland mortuary contexts are not clustered 
or elaborate. Divergently, Taylor Hill is marked by an unusually high 
density of burials within an area of 10 square meters and a diversity 
in mortuary treatment that is apparently based on social hierarchy. In 
summary, Taylor Hill is a unique area in the Middle Woodland Period of 
southeastern Massachusetts because of the inhabitants' sedentism and 
designation of burial areas. These patterns indicate that, unlike other 
Middle Woodland people in southeastern Massachusetts, the inhabitants 
of Taylor Hill had developed a particular relationship with the land. 
It is therefore possible to demonstrate by a preponderance of the 
evidence that a relationship of shared group identity exists between 
ancestral Wampanoag people at the Taylor Hill site during the Middle 
Woodland period and present-day Wampanoag people.

Determinations Made by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 
Harvard University

    Officials of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, 
Harvard University have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of three individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the three objects 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 Mashpee 
Wampanoag Tribe (previously listed as Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal 
Council, Inc.) and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), Indian 
tribes that represent people of Wampanoag descent.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any Indian Tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Patricia Capone, Peabody Museum of Archaeology 
and Ethnology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 
02138, telephone (617) 496-3702; or Ryan Wheeler, Robert S. Peabody 
Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover, 
MA 01810, telephone (978) 749-4490, email [email protected], by 
October 19, 2020. After that date, if no additional requestors have 
come forward, transfer of control of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (previously listed as 
Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc.)

[[Page 58072]]

and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) may proceed.
    The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University 
and Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology are responsible for 
notifying the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (previously listed as Mashpee 
Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, Inc.); Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head 
(Aquinnah); and the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation, a non-
federally recognized Indian group, that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 10, 2020.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2020-20514 Filed 9-16-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P