[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 86 (Thursday, May 4, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28602-28603]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09470]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035767; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: University of 
Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL

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 University of Florida, Florida Museum of 
Natural History (FLMNH) intends to repatriate certain cultural items 
that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects and sacred 
objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural items were 
removed from near Big Cypress Swamp, Collier County, FL.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after June 5, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Catherine Smith, University of Florida, Florida Museum of 
Natural History, 1659 Museum Road, Gainesville, FL 32611, telephone 
(352) 273-1921, 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 FLMNH. 
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 FLMNH.

Description

    The 29 cultural items were removed from near Big Cypress Swamp in 
Collier County, FL. These cultural items originally belonged to an 
unidentified Seminole warrior but were taken by Captain Winston J.T. 
Stephens, commander of a company of Florida Mounted Volunteers, in the 
Big Cypress Swamp on December 3, 1857, after he shot and killed the man 
in a skirmish between his company and a group of ``Indians'' during the 
Third Seminole War. The account was both orally passed down through the 
Stephens family and documented in a journal kept by Captain Stephens. 
FLMNH (called the Florida State Museum at the

[[Page 28603]]

time) acquired these cultural items from a descendent of Captain 
Stephens as a private donation on 10/12/1975. These items were 
accessioned to the FLMNH anthropology division as the Stephens 
Collection (Acc.# 75-81) within the general ethnography collection then 
incorporated into the Florida Ethnographic Collections upon its 
establishment. The six unassociated funerary objects include the 
Seminole warrior's belongings currently held by FLMNH. The 23 sacred 
objects include items used in traditional Seminole ceremonies, which 
were also in the possession of the Seminole warrior at time of death.

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: historical, oral tradition, 
and geographical location.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the FLMNH has determined that:
     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.
     The 23 cultural items described above are specific 
ceremonial objects needed by traditional Native American religious 
leaders for the practice of traditional Native American religions by 
their present-day adherents.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Seminole Tribe 
of Florida.

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 June 5, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, FLMNH 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. FLMNH 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: April 25, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-09470 Filed 5-3-23; 8:45 am]
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