[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 17 (Thursday, January 28, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7408-7409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-01898]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0031390; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Tennessee Valley 
Authority, Knoxville, TN

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has 
determined that the cultural items listed in this notice meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or 
representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items 
should submit a written request to the TVA. If no additional claimants 
come forward, transfer of control of the cultural items 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 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to the TVA at the address in this 
notice by March 1, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Thomas O. Maher, Tennessee Valley Authority, 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. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items under the 
control of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, TN, that meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the unassociated funerary objects was made 
by TVA professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Cherokee Nation; Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; Eastern Band of Cherokee 
Indians; Shawnee Tribe; The Chickasaw Nation; and The Muscogee (Creek) 
Nation (hereafter referred to as ``The Consulted Tribes'').

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    On June 25, 1937, 47 cultural items were removed from burial 15 at 
1MS32, the McKee Island site, in Marshall County, AL. The McKee Island 
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 (WPA). Details regarding these excavations may be found 
in ``An Archaeological Survey of Guntersville Basin on the Tennessee 
River in Northern Alabama,'' by William S. Webb and Charles G. Wilder. 
TVA acquired the site on November 12, 1936. The 47 unassociated 
funerary objects are sherds of a Mississippi Plain vessel.
    Site 1MS32 was a midden-rich village that extended 800 feet along a 
ridge of the now-inundated McKee Island. Although there are no 
radiocarbon dates from this site, ceramics recovered from 1MS32 
indicate occupations during the Colbert (300 B.C.-A.D. 100), Flint 
River (A.D. 500-1000), and Crow Creek (A.D. 1500-1650) phases. Burial 
15 is from the Mississippian Crow Creek phase. Chronicles from Spanish 
explorers of the 16th century and French explorers of the 17th and 18th 
century indicate the presence of chiefdom-level tribal entities in the 
southeastern United States that resemble the historic Native American 
chiefdoms. Linguistic analysis of place names noted by multiple Spanish 
explorers indicates that Koasati-speaking Muskogean groups inhabited 
northeastern Alabama. Early maps and research into the historic Native 
American occupation of northeastern Alabama 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 Koasati/Kaskinampo and Muscogee (Creek) descendants indicate that 
this portion of the Tennessee River valley was their tribal homeland. 
Oral tradition also indicates that by the middle 1700s, the Koasati/
Kaskinampo were leaving the Tennessee River valley and moving south.
    Based on the totality of the evidence, TVA has determined that the 
items from the Mississippian burials at 1MS32 are culturally affiliated 
with descendants of the Koasati/Kaskinampo. These descendants include 
the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas (previously listed as the Alabama-
Coushatta Tribes of Texas); Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Coushatta 
Tribe of Louisiana; and The Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

Determinations Made by the Tennessee Valley Authority

    Officials of the Tennessee Valley Authority have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 47 cultural items 
described above 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 and are believed, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), these items are culturally 
affiliated with the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas (previously listed 
as the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas); Alabama-

[[Page 7409]]

Quassarte Tribal Town; Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; and The Muscogee 
(Creek) Nation (hereafter referred to as ``The Tribes'').
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3005(a)(2), repatriation of these 
cultural items may be to The Tribes.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Dr. Thomas O. Maher, Tennessee Valley 
Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT11C, Knoxville, TN 37902-1401, 
telephone (865) 632-7458, email [email protected], by March 1, 2021. 
After that date, if no additional claimants have come forward, transfer 
of control of the unassociated funerary objects to The Tribes may 
proceed.
    The Tennessee Valley Authority is responsible for notifying The 
Tribes and The Consulted Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: January 14, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-01898 Filed 1-27-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P