[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 87 (Friday, May 5, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29163-29164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09580]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035776; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Mobile District, Mobile, AL

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, Mobile 
District, 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 
Itawamba and Tishomingo Counties, MS.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after June 5, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Ms. Alexandria Smith, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile 
District, 109 St. Joseph Street, P.O. Box 2288, Mobile, AL 36628-0001, 
telephone (251) 690-2728, 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, Mobile 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 inventory or related 
records held by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, 26 individuals were removed 
from Itawamba County, MS. The White Springs site (22IT537) was 
originally recorded by Joseph Caldwell and S.D. Lewis in 1971, during a 
survey of the Canal Section of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. The 
site was identified as a 15-20-acre village. Archeological phases 
identified at the site include Early Archaic, Gulf Formational, Middle 
and Late Woodland, and Mississippian. Testing excavations were 
conducted in April of 1971, and full-scale excavation was conducted 
between July and August of the same year by the University of Southern 
Mississippi. The age and sex of these individuals are unidentified. No 
known individuals were identified. The 240 associated funerary objects 
are 51 lots consisting of ceramics, 53 lots consisting of lithics, 22 
lots consisting of projectile points, 23 lots consisting of faunal 
remains, eight lots consisting of shells, 38 lots consisting of soil 
samples, 16 lots consisting of float samples, three lots consisting of 
fire cracked rock, one lot consisting of stone fragments, two lots 
consisting of preforms, five lots consisting of sandstone, four lots 
consisting of pebbles, four lots consisting of burial fill, three lots 
consisting of petrified wood, three lots consisting of ferrous 
sandstone, one lot consisting of scrapers, and three lots consisting of 
charcoal.
    Human remains representing, at minimum, six individuals were 
removed from Itawamba County, MS. In November of 1971, Joseph Caldwell 
and S.D. Lewis identified the Walnut site (22IT539), located in a 
floodplain near the confluence of Mackeys and Big Brown Creeks and 
within the operational boundaries of the Canal Section of the 
Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. This site has been described as a village 
measuring 100 feet-by-150 feet on a rise in swamp and low forest. 
According to the site form, the Walnut site had been looted and partly 
cleared for a powerline. Archeological phases associated with the site 
include Middle Archaic, Late Archaic, Middle Gulf Formational, and 
Woodland. The age and sex of these individuals are unidentified. No 
known individuals were identified. The nine associated funerary objects 
are one lot consisting of beads, one lot consisting of lithics, one lot 
consisting of daub, three lots consisting of perpetuity samples, one 
lot consisting of charcoal, one lot consisting of unmodified cobbles, 
and one lot consisting of clay.
    Human remains representing, at minimum, 10 individuals were removed 
from Itawamba County, MS. In 1975, the Poplar site (22IT576) was 
recorded by J.R. Atkinson in the Canal Section of the Tennessee-
Tombigbee Waterway. Atkinson described the site as a circular Woodland 
midden mound with black soil approximately one-half acre in size. The 
University of Alabama conducted archeological testing at the site in 
1979 and full-scale excavations in 1980. Poplar is a multi-component 
site with Paleoindian, Archaic, and Woodland components. The age and 
sex of these individuals are unidentified. No known individuals were 
identified. The 64 associated funerary objects are one lot consisting 
of ceramic, 21 lots consisting of lithics, nine lots consisting of 
faunal remains, nine lots consisting of ferrous sandstone, two lots 
consisting of projectile points, eight lots consisting of flotation 
samples, two lots consisting of pebbles, two lots consisting of soil 
samples, three lots consisting of clay, three lots consisting of pollen 
samples, one lot consisting of petrified wood, two lots consisting of 
biosilicate samples, and one lot consisting of groundstone fragments.
    Human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals were 
removed from Tishomingo County, MS. The W.C. Mann Site (22TS565) is a 
Middle/Late Archaic site located in the Divide Cut Section of the 
Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. The Department of Anthropology of Memphis 
State University excavated the site from October of 1977 to May of 
1978, under principal investigator Drexel A.

[[Page 29164]]

Peterson, Jr., and field director William McKinney. The age and sex of 
these individuals are unidentified. No known individuals were 
identified. The 63 associated funerary objects are three lots 
consisting of ceramics, 26 lots consisting of lithics, two lots 
consisting of faunal remains, one lot consisting of cobbles, eight lots 
consisting of miscellaneous stones, one lot consisting of limonite 
fragments, two lots consisting of soil samples, two lots consisting of 
flotation samples, one lot consisting of daub, three lots consisting of 
clay, two lots consisting of stone cores, three lots consisting of 
projectile points, four lots consisting of sandstone, three lots 
consisting of fire cracked rock, one lot consisting of red ochre, and 
one lot consisting of abraders.
    Human remains representing, at a minimum, five individuals were 
removed from Tishomingo County, MS. Site 22TS956, also referred to as 
``the'' Bay Springs Rockshelter, is just one of several rockshelters 
situated along the Divide Cut Section of the Tennessee-Tombigbee 
Waterway. These sites were excavated in several stages by the Cultural 
Resource Program of the Department of Anthropology at the University of 
Pittsburgh under the direction of Principal Investigator J.M. Adovasio 
(October 1-13, 1979; October 16-November 23, 1979; December 3, 1979-
February 25, 1980; and February 26-June 3, 1980). The age and sex of 
these individuals are unidentified. No known individuals were 
identified. The three associated funerary objects are two lots 
consisting of soil samples and one lot consisting of dense stone 
fragments.

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: archeological, 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, Mobile District has 
determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 49 individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 379 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 Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of 
Texas; Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; and 
The Chickasaw Nation.

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 June 5, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the U.S. Army Corps 
of Engineers, Mobile District, 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 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Mobile District, 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, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: April 25, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-09580 Filed 5-4-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P