[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 136 (Tuesday, July 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45911-45912]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15100]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036183; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Bridgewater College's Reuel B. 
Pritchett Museum Collection, Bridgewater, VA

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 Bridgewater College's Reuel B. Pritchett 
Museum Collection 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 the 
Lewis Creek Burial Mound, Augusta County, VA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after August 17, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Andrew L. Pearson, Bridgewater College, 402 East College 
Street, Bridgewater, VA 22812, telephone (540) 828-5410, email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the 
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. 
The

[[Page 45912]]

determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
Bridgewater College's Reuel B. Pritchett Museum Collection. 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 Bridgewater College's Reuel B. Pritchett 
Museum Collection.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed 
from the Lewis Creek Burial Mound, Augusta County, VA, by the Virginia 
Archaeological Society in the autumn of 1964 around the time the State 
Highway Department announced plans to work on access roads and ramps in 
the area. During the dig, Ruth Kent and Dr. Robert K. Burns, who 
according to the Museum's records, was an embryologist and a member of 
the American Academy of Sciences, discovered the infant remains. The 
human remains, a skeleton, was given to the Museum by the Southern 
Shenandoah Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Virginia in 1964 
and given the catalog number 64.1.001.
    On an unknown date(s), 52 cultural items were removed from the 
Lewis Creek Indian Mound in Augusta County, VA. The items were 
purchased from George Rusmiselle by Dr. Robert K. Burns circa 1936-
1950, and were donated to the Museum in 1978 by Robert K. Burns. The 52 
associated funerary objects are: eight red glass beads with blue and 
white stripes on a string (78.7.003a); 32 projectile points, some of 
which are carved from white quartz (78.7.003b); eight bone or shell 
beads (78.7.003c); one string of shell or bone wampum beads 
(78.7.003c); one string of shell beads (78.7.003d); one partial 
steatite pipe (78.7.003e); and one partial clay pipe (78.7.003f).
    On an unknown date, one cultural item was removed from the Lewis 
Creek Indian Mound in Augusta County, VA. The item was donated to the 
Museum in 1954 by Reuel B. Pritchett. The one associated funerary 
object is an unidentified Native American stone implement that may be 
marked, ``Lewis.'' The item was given the catalog number: 54.1.956.

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: archaeological information, geographical information, 
historical information, consultation with one or more Indian Tribes, 
and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Bridgewater College's Reuel B. Pritchett Museum 
Collection has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
     The 53 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 Monacan Indian 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 August 17, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the Bridgewater 
College's Reuel B. Pritchett Museum Collection 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 Bridgewater 
College's Reuel B. Pritchett Museum Collection is responsible for 
sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations 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: July 6, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-15100 Filed 7-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P