[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 78 (Friday, April 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 24195]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-08601]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0033739; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Putnam Museum and 
Science Center, Davenport, IA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Putnam Museum and Science Center, 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 Putnam Museum and Science 
Center. 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 Putnam Museum and Science 
Center at the address in this notice by May 23, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christina Kastell, Putnam Museum and 
Science Center, 1717 W 12th Street, Davenport, IA 52804, telephone 
(563) 336-7293, 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 Putnam Museum and Science Center, Davenport, IA, 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.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    Sometime in the 1880s, six cultural items were removed from the 
Mississippi Valley in AL and MS. Captain W.P. Hall excavated these 
items. Subsequently, Miss Elizabeth Duncan Putnam donated these items 
to the museum. The six unassociated funerary objects are two Bell Plain 
Bowls, one miniature bowl, one animal effigy sherd, one ear plug, and 
one pipe fragment.
    These items have been determined to derive from Mississippian 
burial mounds in AL and MS. Based on this geographical and 
archeological information, they are connected to The Choctaw Nation of 
Oklahoma.

Determinations Made by the Putnam Museum and Science Center

    Officials of the Putnam Museum and Science Center have determined 
that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the six 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), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary objects and The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

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 Christina Kastell, Putnam Museum and Science 
Center, 1717 W 12th Street, Davenport, IA 52804, telephone (563) 336-
7293, email [email protected], by May 23, 2022. After that date, if 
no additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control of the 
unassociated funerary objects to The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma may 
proceed.
    The Putnam Museum and Science Center is responsible for notifying 
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma that this notice has been published.

    Dated: April 13, 2022.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2022-08601 Filed 4-21-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P