[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 234 (Friday, December 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78355-78357]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-26758]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0031208; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Department of the Navy, Navy 
Region Southeast, Jacksonville, FL

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of the Navy, Navy Region Southeast, has 
completed an inventory of human remains, in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, and has 
determined that there is no cultural affiliation between the human 
remains and any present-day Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations. 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 should submit a written 
request to the Department of the Navy, Navy Region Southeast. If no 
additional requestors come forward, transfer of control of the human 
remains to the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in 
this notice may proceed.

DATES: 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 should submit a written 
request with information in support of the request to the Department of 
the Navy, Navy Region Southeast, at the address in this notice by 
January 4, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Dr. John Calabrese, Navy Region Southeast, Naval Air Station 
Jacksonville, Building 135N, Jacksonville, FL 32212, telephone (904) 
542-6985, 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 United States Navy, Navy Region Southeast, 
Jacksonville, FL. The human remains were removed from Naval Submarine 
Base Kings Bay, Camden County, GA.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3) and 
43 CFR 10.11(d). 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. 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 
Department of the Navy, Navy Region Southeast professional staff in 
consultation with representatives of the Cherokee Nation; Eastern Band 
of Cherokee Indians; Miccosukee Tribe of Indians; Poarch

[[Page 78356]]

Band of Creeks (previously listed as Poarch Band of Creek Indians of 
Alabama); Seminole Tribe of Florida (previously listed as Seminole 
Tribe of Florida (Dania, Big Cypress, Brighton, Hollywood & Tampa 
Reservations)); The Chickasaw Nation; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; The 
Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; Thlopthlocco Tribal Town; and the United 
Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (hereafter referred to 
as ``The Consulted Tribes'').

History and Description of the Remains

    Between 1979 and 1986, human remains representing, at minimum, 10 
individuals were removed from the following seven sites in Camden 
County, GA: Kings Bay Site (9CM171); Kings Bay Site (9CM171B); Kings 
Bay Site, Poisonberry Area (9CM171A); Devils Walking Stick, South 
Bunker Area (9CM177B); Kings Bay Planation Site, Area 1 (9CM172); Kings 
Bay Planation Site, South Trunk Line Area (9CM172); and Kings Bay Site, 
Wharf Area (9CM171J). All archeological materials from these 
investigations, including the human remains, were initially curated at 
the University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, in 
Gainesville, FL. In May 2000, they were transferred to the United 
States Army Corps of Engineers, Mandatory Center of Expertise for the 
Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections in St. Louis, MO. 
In September 2002, the human remains were transferred to Naval 
Submarine Base Kings Bay, and the other materials were sent to the 
University of Georgia, Athens Laboratory of Archaeology for permanent 
curation. In March 2017, the human remains were transferred to Navy 
Region Southeast in Jacksonville, FL.

Kings Bay Site (9CM171)

    In 1979, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual, 
were recovered under the direction of the Department of Anthropology, 
University of Florida through a contract with the United States Navy. 
The human remains belong to an adult of undetermined sex. No known 
individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are present. 
The human remains were removed from trenched spoil. Late Archaic (3,000 
to 1,000 B.C.) St. Simons fiber-tempered ceramics and Swift Creek 
Complicated Stamp pottery (A.D. 300 to 900) were recovered from the 
site.

Kings Bay Site (9CM171B)

    Between November 1979 and February 1980, human remains 
representing, at minimum, one individual, were excavated under the 
direction of the Department of Anthropology, University of Florida 
through a contract with the United States Navy. The human remains 
belong to a female. No known individual was identified. No associated 
funerary objects are present. The human remains were removed from an 
articulated burial. A single radiocarbon assay from the surrounding 
soil dates between A.D. 625 and 1020, and the fragmentary ceramic 
assemblage from the surrounding soil indicates a generalized St. Johns 
period component.

Kings Bay Site, Poisonberry Area (9CM171A)

    In 1981, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual, 
were excavated under the direction of the Department of Anthropology, 
University of Florida through a contract with the United States Navy. 
The human remains comprise two tooth fragments (an incisor crown and a 
molar crown). No known individual was identified. No associated 
funerary objects are present. The human remains were found in a shell 
midden with a predominantly Swift Creek (Late Woodland, A.D. 300 to 
900) component.

Devils Walking Stick, South Bunker Area (9CM177B)

    In 1981, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual, 
were excavated under the direction of the Department of Anthropology, 
University of Florida through a contract with the United States Navy. 
The human remains comprise a single tooth crown. No known individual 
was identified. No associated funerary objects are present. The human 
remains were recovered from a midden deposit. While the excavation 
records are too imprecise to place the human remains in a specific 
prehistoric component, the site itself dates to the Savannah (A.D. 900-
1550) and Protohistoric (A.D. 1550+) Periods.

Kings Bay Planation Site, Area 1 (9CM172)

    In 1984, human remains representing, at minimum, three individuals 
were recovered by a professional archeologist under contract to the 
United States Navy. The human remains belong to two adults and one 
adolescent. No known individuals were identified. No associated 
funerary objects are present. The human remains were removed from the 
ground surface of a highly disturbed former shell midden during 
archeological monitoring for a building foundation and a utility 
trench. The midden contained a combination of Woodland (Deptford and 
Swift Creek, 800 B.C.-A.D. 900) and Mississippian (Savannah and Irene/
San Marcos, A.D. 900-1540) components.

Kings Bay Planation Site, South Trunk Line Area (9CM172)

    In 1984, human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals 
were recovered by a professional archeologist under contract to the 
United States Navy. The human remains belong to two adult males. No 
known individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present. The human remains were removed from measured test unit 
excavations undertaken after suspected human remains were inadvertently 
discovered during a waterline trench excavation. While no cultural 
components were directly associated with the human remains, the site 
itself produced both Woodland (Weeden Island Deptford, Weeden Island 
and Swift Creek, 800 B.C.-A.D. 900) and Mississippian (Savannah, A.D. 
900 to 1350) components.

Kings Bay Site, Wharf Area (9CM171J)

    In 1986, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual 
were excavated by a professional archeologist under contract to the 
United States Navy, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. The incomplete 
skeletal remains belong to an adult of undetermined sex. No known 
individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are present. 
The human remains were recovered from a shell midden during the 
expansion of the wharf. When found, the human remains were in a flexed 
position, and in conjunction with a single diagnostic ceramic fragment 
from the larger Weeden Island Period (A.D. 300 to 900).

Determinations Made by the Department of the Navy, Navy Region 
Southeast

    Officials of the Department of the Navy, Navy Region Southeast have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice are Native American based on their recovery from 
prehistoric archeological sites.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of 10 individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), a relationship of shared 
group identity cannot be reasonably traced between the Native American 
human remains and any present-day Indian Tribe.

[[Page 78357]]

     At the time of the early colonial period, the area 
encompassing Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay was occupied by the 
Timucua, a Muskogean (or, alternatively, a Siouan or Arawakan-speaking) 
group (Milanich 2004). After 1595, with the expansion of the Spanish 
mission system in La Florida, the Timucua became actively subject to 
the Spanish Crown. By the early 18th century a combination of disease, 
forced relocation by the Spanish, and enslavement had reduced the 
Timucua population to a few hundred. The reduction of Timucua numbers 
between the 16th and 18th centuries allowed for the expansion of other 
Muskogean peoples into the region. The terms of the Treaty of Augusta, 
signed in 1763 (a corollary to the Treaty of Paris ending the Seven 
Years War), ceded the Georgia coast, including what is currently St. 
Marys, GA, from the Creek Indians to the British Crown. Subsequently, 
the Treaty of 1790 and the Treaty of Colerain (1796) ceded additional 
lands by the Creek in Georgia and elsewhere to the United States. 
Consequently, the land from which the Native American human remains 
were removed is the aboriginal land of Creek peoples, including the 
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians; Poarch Band of Creeks (previously listed 
as Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama); Seminole Tribe of Florida 
(previously listed as Seminole Tribe of Florida (Dania, Big Cypress, 
Brighton, Hollywood & Tampa Reservations)); The Chickasaw Nation; The 
Muscogee (Creek) Nation; The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; and the 
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town (hereafter referred to as ``The Tribes'').
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1), the disposition of the 
human remains may be to The Tribes.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    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 should submit a written request with information 
in support of the request to Dr. John Calabrese, United States Navy, 
Navy Region Southeast, Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL 
32212, telephone (904) 542-6985, email [email protected], by 
January 4, 2021. After that date, if no additional requestors have come 
forward, transfer of control of the human remains to The Tribes may 
proceed.
    The Department of the Navy, Navy Region Southeast is responsible 
for notifying The Consulted Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: November 24, 2020.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2020-26758 Filed 12-3-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P