[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 236 (Friday, December 9, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75651-75652]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-26791]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0034985; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: New York State 
Museum, Albany, NY

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the New York State Museum (NYSM), intends to 
repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of 
unassociated funerary objects and that have a cultural affiliation with 
the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The 
cultural items were removed from Orange and Ulster Counties, NY.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after January 9, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Lisa Anderson, New York State Museum, 3049 Cultural 
Education Center, Albany, NY 12230, telephone (518) 486-2020, email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the 
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
NYSM. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice. Additional information on the 
determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, 
can be found in the summary or related records held by the NYSM.

Description

    In 1909, Everett R. Burmaster removed two unassociated funerary

[[Page 75652]]

objects from a Native American grave at the Van Etten site near Port 
Jervis, in Orange County, NY, during excavations conducted for the 
NYSM. The unassociated funerary objects are one brass lion sejant spoon 
and one bronze bell. Archeological evidence indicates the burials from 
the Van Etten site date to the first half of the 18th century, when the 
area was known as traditional Munsee or Lenape territory.
    Between 1957 and 1972, James R. Burggraf removed two unassociated 
funerary objects from a Native American grave at the Hurley site in 
Hurley, Ulster County, NY. The objects were donated to the NYSM in 1994 
as part of a larger collection. The unassociated funerary objects are 
one bannerstone and one projectile point. Archeological evidence 
indicates the Hurley site was occupied repeatedly from the Late Archaic 
to Late Woodland periods, with a primary occupation during the Late 
Woodland period.

Cultural Affiliation

    The cultural items in this notice are connected to one or more 
identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures. There is a 
relationship of shared group identity between the identifiable earlier 
groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures and one or more Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations. The following types of information were 
used to reasonably trace the relationship: archeological and 
geographical.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the NYSM has determined that:
     The four 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Stockbridge 
Munsee Community, Wisconsin.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items 
in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in 
ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be submitted by any lineal 
descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice who shows, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, that the requestor is a lineal descendant or a culturally 
affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
    Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice to a requestor 
may occur on or after January 9, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the NYSM must determine the most appropriate 
requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the 
cultural items are considered a single request and not competing 
requests. The NYSM is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to 
the Indian Tribe identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.8, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: November 30, 2022.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2022-26791 Filed 12-8-22; 8:45 am]
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