[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 236 (Friday, December 9, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75654-75655]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-26798]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

 [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0034986; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion Amendment: Robert S. Peabody 
Institute of Archaeology, Andover, MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; amendment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Robert S. Peabody Institute of 
Archaeology (RSPI) has amended a Notice of Inventory Completion 
published in the Federal Register on October 31, 2007. This notice 
amends the minimum number of individuals, number of associated funerary 
objects, and cultural affiliation of human remains and associated 
funerary objects removed from Bolivar County, MS.

[[Page 75655]]


DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after January 9, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Ryan J. Wheeler, Robert S. Peabody Institute of 
Archaeology, Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover, MA 01810, 
telephone (978) 749-4490, 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 
RSPI. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice. Additional information on the amendments 
and determinations in this notice, including the results of 
consultation, can be found in the inventory or related records held by 
the RSPI.

Amendment

    This notice amends the determinations published in a Notice of 
Inventory Completion in the Federal Register (72 FR 61674, October 31, 
2007). Repatriation of the items in the original Notice of Inventory 
Completion has not occurred. Additional human remains and associated 
funerary objects from Bolivar County, MS, held by the RSPI were 
identified during an inventory project. Review of RSPI records 
indicates that consultation did not occur prior to the publication of 
the Notice of Inventory Completion in 2007. Consultation was conducted 
in 2021 and 2022, providing evidence for reassessment of cultural 
affiliation. This notice amends the minimum number of individuals and 
the number of associated funerary objects as listed in the original 
notice. Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual removed 
from Bolivar County, MS, were added to the inventory. In addition, 751 
associated funerary objects removed from Bolivar County, MS, were added 
to the inventory. Also, the cultural affiliation of the human remains 
and associated funerary objects in this notice are amended.
    From Alligator Mounds in Bolivar County, MS, eight individuals were 
removed (previously identified as seven individuals). The 775 
associated funerary objects (previously identified as 24 associated 
funerary objects) are 24 bone awls, 44 bifaces, 199 faunal remains, two 
carbon samples, four chipped stone objects, 14 cobbles, three 
concretions, 24 cores, two fragments of daub, one drill, four fragments 
of fire cracked rock, 71 flakes, one unknown cylindrical object, one 
game piece, one broken stone fragment, one flat stone, two sharpening 
stones, one pitted stone, six fragments of a pill-shaped ceramic 
object, four modified animal bones, two pecked stones, nine charred 
seeds or nuts, 26 pebbles, one pendant, one perforator, two pieces 
petrified wood, two pigment stones, one pipe fragment, one plummet 
fragment, four rectangular polishing stones, six projectile point 
preforms, two scrapers, 34 shell fragments, 269 ceramic sherds, four 
unmodified stones, and two quartz fragments.

Determinations (As Amended)

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the RSPI has determined that:
     The human remains described in this amended notice 
represent the physical remains of eight individuals of Native American 
ancestry.
     The 775 objects described in this amended 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects described in this notice and the Quapaw Nation (previously 
listed as The Quapaw Tribe of Indians); The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; 
and the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation 
may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations identified in this notice.
    2. 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 human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after January 9, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the RSPI must 
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. 
Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing 
requests. The RSPI is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to 
the Indian Tribes identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, 10.10, 
10.13, and 10.14.

    Dated: November 30, 2022.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2022-26798 Filed 12-8-22; 8:45 am]
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