[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 100 (Wednesday, May 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33638-33639]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11011]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035906; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Tennessee 
Department of Environment and Conservation, Nashville, TN

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 Tennessee Department of Environment and 
Conservation (TDEC-DOA) 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 
Madison, Obion, and Perry Counties, TN.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after June 23, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Phillip R. Hodge, Tennessee Department of Environment and 
Conservation, Division of Archaeology, 1216 Foster Avenue, Cole 
Building #3, Nashville, TN 37243, telephone (615) 626-2025, 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 
TDEC-DOA. 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 TDEC-DOA.

Description

    In 1963, 1981, and 1983, archeologists with the TDEC-DOA removed 68 
cultural items from site 40MD1 in Madison County, TN. The 68 
unassociated funerary object include 46 lots of fragmentary artifacts 
from burial fill consisting of copper, fiber matting, fibrous material, 
unidentified organic material, cane-impressed clay and daub, charcoal 
samples, burned wood, unidentified bones, lithic debitage, burned 
sandstone, siltstone, fire cracked rock, mica, faunal bones, and 
shells; 12 lots of fragmentary artifacts from features interpreted to 
be cremations consisting of lithic debitage, sandstone, quartz crystal 
flakes, mica, ceramic sherds, unidentifiable bones and charcoal; four 
lots consisting of lithic debitage, chipped stone tool fragments, 
sandstone, quartz crystal flakes, mica, ceramic sherds, unidentifiable 
bones, charcoal, and soil fragments with impressed cane matting; one 
lot consisting of burned sandstone; one lot consisting of pearl and 
shell beads from Mound 6; two lots of fragmentary artifacts from 
features interpreted to be cremations consisting of unidentifiable bone 
fragments and stone from Mound 12; one lot of fragmentary artifacts 
from burial fill consisting of lithic debitage, burned sandstone, and 
ceramic sherds; and one lot consisting of charcoal and burned organic 
material from a cremation feature in Mound 31.
    In 1985, archeologists with Arrow Enterprises of Bowling Green, KY, 
working under contract to the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, removed 
43 cultural items from site 40OB6 in Obion County, TN. The 43 
unassociated funerary objects include eight lots of artifacts from 
burial fill consisting of lithic debitage, fire cracked rock, 
sandstone, shell fragments, ceramic sherds, burned clay fragments, and 
unidentifiable calcined bone fragments; 34 lots of artifacts from 
general mound fill consisting of lithic debitage, fire cracked rock, 
fragmentary chipped stone tools, sandstone, pebbles, ceramic sherds, 
burned clay fragments, charcoal, shells, and faunal bones; and one lot 
consisting of unprocessed soil samples from mound contexts.
    Between 1972 and 1976, archeologists with then Memphis State 
University removed eight cultural items from site 40PY207 in Perry 
County, TN. The eight unassociated funerary objects include one lot 
consisting of commingled dog skeletal remains belonging to three dogs 
and seven lots of burial fill consisting of lithic debitage, 
fragmentary faunal materials, shells, fire cracked rock, daub, and 
stone.

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: geographical and historical.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the TDEC-DOA has determined that:
     The 119 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 specific burial sites of Native American individuals.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Cherokee 
Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; The Chickasaw Nation; and the 
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

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 23, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the TDEC-DOA must determine the

[[Page 33639]]

most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint 
repatriation of the cultural items are considered a single request and 
not competing requests. The TDEC-DOA 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 10.8, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: May 17, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-11011 Filed 5-23-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P