[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 211 (Thursday, November 4, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60910-60911]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-24052]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0032946; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Tennessee Valley Authority, 
Knoxville, TN

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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[[Page 60911]]

SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has completed an 
inventory of associated funerary objects in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, and has 
determined that there is no cultural affiliation between the associated 
funerary objects 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 associated funerary objects should submit 
a written request to the TVA. If no additional requestors come forward, 
transfer of control of the associated funerary objects 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 associated funerary objects should submit 
a written request with information in support of the request to the TVA 
at the address in this notice by December 6, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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. 3003, of the completion of an inventory of associated funerary 
objects under the control of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, 
TN. The associated funerary objects were removed from site 1MA4 in 
Madison 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) 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 associated funerary objects. The 
National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this 
notice.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the associated funerary objects was made 
by TVA professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Alabama-Coushatta Tribe 
of Texas [previously listed as Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas]; 
Cherokee Nation; Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; Eastern Band of Cherokee 
Indians; Poarch Band of Creek Indians [previously known as the Poarch 
Band of Creeks, and as the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama]; 
The Chickasaw Nation; The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; The Muscogee 
(Creek) Nation; The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; and the United 
Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (hereafter referred to 
as ``The Consulted Tribes'').

History and Description of the Remains

    Site 1MA4 was excavated as part of TVA's Wheeler Reservoir Project 
by the Alabama Museum of Natural History (AMNH) at the University of 
Alabama using labor provided by the Civil Works Administration, a 
precursor to the Works Progress Administration. Details regarding the 
excavation of this site may be found in ``An Archaeological Survey of 
Wheeler Basin on the Tennessee River in Northern Alabama,'' by William 
S. Webb. The associated funerary objects excavated from the site listed 
in this notice have been in the physical custody of the AMNH at the 
University of Alabama since they were excavated. Human remains from 
site 1MA4 were listed in a Notice of Inventory Completion published in 
the Federal Register on December 21, 2018 (83 FR 65729-65734, December 
21, 2018), and they were subsequently transferred to the Cherokee 
Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; The Chickasaw Nation; and the 
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma. Recently, 
associated funerary objects from site 1MA4 were discovered during the 
improvement of the curation of TVA's archeological collection at AMNH.
    From February through March 1934, associated funerary objects were 
removed from site 1MA4, in Madison County, AL, by AMNH. TVA acquired a 
strip of land around the periphery of Hobbs Island encompassing this 
site on May 23, 1939, as part of the Wheeler Reservoir project, but the 
excavation was conducted with Federal funds in anticipation of the 
inundation of this site. The site was a shell midden 300 x 125 feet 
located adjacent to the island's shoreline. There are no radiocarbon 
dates available for this site, but artifacts from a non-mortuary 
context suggest Langston (A.D. 900-1200) and Hobbs Island (A.D. 1200-
1450) phase occupations. The 351 associated funerary objects include 
one conch shell cup, 23 Mississippi Plain body sherds, one limestone-
tempered sherd, one Mulberry Creek cordmarked sherd, one Mulberry Creek 
Plain sherd, one Bluff Creek Simple Stamped rim, and 323 shell beads.

Determinations Made by the Tennessee Valley Authority

    Officials of the Tennessee Valley Authority have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 351 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), a relationship of shared 
group identity cannot be reasonably traced between the associated 
funerary objects and any present-day Indian Tribe.
     According to final judgments of the Indian Claims 
Commission or the Court of Federal Claims, the land from which the 
associated funerary objects were removed is the aboriginal land of the 
Cherokee Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; and the United 
Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.
     The Treaty of September 20, 1816, indicates that the land 
from which the Native American human remains were removed is the 
aboriginal land of The Chickasaw Nation.
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(4), the Tennessee Valley 
Authority has agreed to transfer control of the associated funerary 
objects to the Cherokee Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; The 
Chickasaw Nation; and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in 
Oklahoma (hereafter referred to as ``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 associated funerary objects should submit a written request 
with information in support of the request 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 December 6, 2021. After that date, if no additional 
requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the associated 
funerary objects to The Tribes may proceed.
    The Tennessee Valley Authority is responsible for notifying The 
Consulted Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: October 23, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-24052 Filed 11-3-21; 8:45 am]
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