[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 86 (Thursday, May 4, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28607-28608]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09476]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035772; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers, Savannah District, Savannah, GA

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 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah 
District, 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 Columbia County, GA.

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

ADDRESSES: Mr. Rodney Parker, Regulatory Archeologist and District 
Tribal Liaison, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, 100 W 
Oglethorpe Avenue, Savannah, GA 31401, telephone (912) 652-5964, 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 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District. 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 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District.

Description

    Thirteen cultural items were removed from Columbia County, GA. 
Between 1948-1951, the National Park Service's River Basin Survey 
conducted archeological investigations at the Lake Springs Village site 
(9CB22), which is located within the former Clark's Hill Lake, today, 
Thurmond Lake. Subsequent excavations were conducted at this site by 
the Smithsonian Institution on behalf of the Savannah District in 
response to the imminent construction of Thurmond Lake. (Additional 
cultural objects and human remains removed from this site are housed at 
the Smithsonian Institution and are under its control.) The 13 
unassociated funerary objects are two incised bone pendants, four 
worked bone fragments, two incised bones, one atlatl fragment/weight, 
one bear tooth pendant, two ceramic polishing stones, and one undrilled 
soapstone atlatl weight.

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: anthropological, 
archeological, biological, geographical, historical, other relevant 
information, and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, has 
determined that:
     The 13 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 Muscogee 
(Creek) Nation.

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.

[[Page 28608]]

    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, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah 
District, 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 U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers, Savannah District, 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, Sec.  
10.10, and Sec.  10.14.

    Dated: April 25, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-09476 Filed 5-3-23; 8:45 am]
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