[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 21, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17011-17012]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05730]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035485; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Rice University, Houston, TX

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Rice University has completed an inventory 
of human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined 
that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and 
associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations in this notice. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from Brazoria County, TX.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after April 20, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Susan K. McIntosh, Department of Anthropology, MS-20, 
Rice University, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, telephone (713) 
348-3380, 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 Rice 
University. 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 inventory or related records held by Rice 
University.

Description

    In 1971, human remains representing at minimum, five individuals 
were removed from the Shell Point site (41 BZ 2) in Brazoria County, 
TX, by Rice University (Rice) during a salvage project at the eroding 
shell midden on the margins of Chocolate Bayou. The human remains 
recovered by Rice included five individuals who had been interred 
together at the same time. Burial #1 contained the human remains of an 
adult male, Burial #2 contained the human remains of a child 5-6 years 
old, Burial #3 contained the human remains of an adult male. Burial #4 
contained the human remains of an adult female, and Burial #5 contained 
the human remains of an adult male. No known individuals were 
identified. Eleven associated funerary objects were removed from the 
burial pit: five conch shell beads, one conch shell pendant, four bone 
awls, and one bone bead. Additionally, 137 pottery sherds were removed 
from various excavation units at the site, but could not be determined 
by the excavators to be contemporaneous with the burials. The 11 
associated funerary objects are currently missing from the collection. 
Rice University continues to look for these 11 missing objects.
    In 1973, an analysis of human remains from the site was published 
(Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society 44 (1973)). (This report 
included human remains removed by non-Rice personnel from three 
additional burials--#s 6, 7, and 8--sometime prior to the Rice 
excavations, which were not curated at Rice and whose location is 
unknown.) Based on the tall stature and ruggedness of the three males 
listed in this notice, which accords with 19th

[[Page 17012]]

century descriptions of then-living Karankawa Indians, the 1973 report 
concluded that ``there is little doubt that the Shell Point series can 
be identified as Karankawa.''

Cultural Affiliation

    The human remains and associated funerary objects 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: geographical, archeological, linguistic, historical, and 
oral traditional.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, Rice University has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of five individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 11 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.
     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 Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of 
Oklahoma.

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 April 20, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, Rice University 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. Rice University 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 10.9, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: March 15, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-05730 Filed 3-20-23; 8:45 am]
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