[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 129 (Friday, July 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43393-43394]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14387]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036137; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: New York State 
Museum, Albany, NY

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 New York State Museum (NYSM), 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 Dutchess County, NY.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after August 7, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Lisa Anderson, New York State Museum, 3049 Cultural 
Education Center, Albany, NY 12230, telephone (518) 486-2020, 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 
NYSM. 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 NYSM.

Description

    In 1947, James Shafer removed seven unassociated funerary objects 
from the South Cruger Island site in Dutchess County, NY. Shafer 
donated the objects to the New York State Museum in 1955. The seven 
unassociated funerary objects are one projectile point, one biface, two 
pottery sherds, one stone celt, one chopper, and one groundstone maul. 
The South Cruger Island site is located in traditional Lenape 
territory, and archeological evidence indicates occupations there 
during the Late Archaic and Late Woodland periods.

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: archeological and 
geographical.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the NYSM has determined that:
     The seven 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 Delaware 
Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of Indians; and the Stockbridge Munsee 
Community, Wisconsin.

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 August 7, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the NYSM 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 NYSM is responsible for sending a copy of this

[[Page 43394]]

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: June 28, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-14387 Filed 7-6-23; 8:45 am]
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