[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 129 (Friday, July 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43390-43391]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14388]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036138; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: 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), 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 Albany and Washington 
Counties, NY.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects 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

[[Page 43391]]

the results of consultation, can be found in the inventory or related 
records held by the NYSM.

Description

    Between 1954 and 1974, human remains representing one individual 
were removed from the Menands Bridge site in Menands, Albany County, 
NY, during salvage excavations conducted by New York State Museum staff 
and avocational archeologists R. Arthur Johnson and C.S. Sundler. The 
582 associated funerary objects are 80 chipped stone flakes, five 
bifaces, three projectile points, 48 pottery sherds, one pottery pipe 
bowl, one netsinker, 299 fragments of animal bone (including one dog), 
14 shell beads, 70 shell fragments, three botanical samples, 10 
charcoal samples, three soil samples, 43 unmodified stones, one fire-
cracked rock, and one iron fragment. The Menands Bridge site is located 
within traditional Mohican territory. Based on their archeological 
context, the human remains and associated funerary objects probably 
date to the Lake Woodland period.
    In 1969, associated funerary objects were removed from the Coffin 
site in Easton, Washington County, NY, during excavations conducted by 
the NYSM. The 46 associated funerary objects include six pottery 
fragments, 38 chipped stone flakes, one scraper, and one biface. The 
Coffin site is located within traditional Mohican territory. The 
archeological evidence dates the site to the Late Woodland period.
    On October 4, 2001, the NYSM listed additional human remains and 
associated funerary objects from the above sites in the Federal 
Register (66 FR 50674-50675). On June 23, 2004, the NYSM repatriated 
them.

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, and linguistic.

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 human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
     The 628 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 Stockbridge Munsee Community, 
Wisconsin.

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 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 human remains and associated 
funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing 
requests. The NYSM 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 10.9, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: June 28, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-14388 Filed 7-6-23; 8:45 am]
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