[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 42 (Friday, March 5, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12968-12969]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-04568]


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

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0031515; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: Mississippi 
Department of Archives and History, Jackson, MS

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), in 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations, has determined that some of the cultural items listed in 
this notice meet the definition of sacred objects and some of the other 
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 MDAH. 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 MDAH at the address in this 
notice by April 5, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Meg Cook, Director of Archaeology Collections, Mississippi 
Department of Archives and History, Museum Division, 222 North Street, 
P.O. Box 571, Jackson, MS 39205, telephone (601) 576-6927, 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 Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, MS, 
that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects and sacred 
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.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    Between 1989 and 1990, 16 sacred objects were removed from the 
Austin site (22TU549) in Tunica County, MS. These sacred objects 
include nine canine burials, one lot of ceramic sherds, one lot of 
charcoal, one lot of fired clay objects, one lot of faunal bone 
fragments (other than canine), one lot of lithic debitage, one lot of 
soil matrix, and one lot of water-screened pit fill. Following 
consultation with The Chickasaw Nation on the role of the white dog 
Ofi' Tohbi Ishto' in the Chickasaw Migration story and the desire of 
the Chickasaw Nation to venerate these animals alongside ancestors in 
current day reburial practices, MDAH has determined that

[[Page 12969]]

the above listed objects are sacred objects.
    In April of 1988, MDAH acquired from an unknown donor a collection 
containing five objects that had been removed from the burial of an 
individual at the Tom Harris site (22QU574) in Quitman County, MS. 
Neither the identity of the individual nor the whereabouts of their 
human remains is known. The unassociated funerary objects include one 
lot of ceramic sherds, one lot of daub, one lot of lithic debitage, one 
lot of faunal bone fragments, and one lot of burial fill matrix.

Determinations Made by the Mississippi Department of Archives and 
History

    Officials at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History 
have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), five of the 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(3)(C), 16 of the cultural items 
described above are specific ceremonial objects needed by traditional 
Native American religious leaders for the practice of traditional 
Native American religions by their present-day adherents.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between all the 
cultural items described above and The Chickasaw 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 claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Meg Cook, Director of Archaeology 
Collections, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Museum 
Division, 222 North Street, P.O. Box 571, Jackson, MS 39205, telephone 
(601) 576-6927, email [email protected], by April 5, 2021. After that 
date, if no additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control 
of the unassociated funerary objects and sacred objects to The 
Chickasaw Nation may proceed.
    The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is responsible 
for notifying the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas [previously listed 
as Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas]; Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; 
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Miami 
Tribe of Oklahoma; Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians; Quapaw Nation 
[previously listed as The Quapaw Tribe of Indians]; The Chickasaw 
Nation; The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; 
The Osage Nation [previously listed as Osage Tribe] that this notice 
has been published.

    Dated: February 12, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-04568 Filed 3-4-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P