[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 197 (Friday, October 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71019-71020]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22674]



[[Page 71019]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036746; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

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 Peabody Museum of Archaeology and 
Ethnology, Harvard University (PMAE) 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 Ventura County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after November 13, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Patricia Capone, PMAE, Harvard University, 11 Divinity 
Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, telephone (617) 496-3702, 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 
PMAE. 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 PMAE.

Description

    The 76 cultural items were removed from San Nicolas Island in 
Ventura County, CA. In 1875, Paul Schumacher led a joint expedition on 
behalf of the Smithsonian Institution and the PMAE that included a 
visit to San Nicolas Island, where he excavated numerous burials. The 
human remains from these burials were sent to the Smithsonian 
Institution, but some funerary objects were sent to the PMAE. Museum 
documentation also indicates that Schumacher sold items he collected in 
the Channel Islands to private collectors.
    In 1877, the PMAE acquired items from the Smithsonian Institution 
that were duplicate objects in their collection from Paul Schumacher's 
1875 San Nicolas Island expedition. The cultural items collected on San 
Nicolas Island during that expedition were from funerary contexts.
    In 1896, Dr. George J. Engelmann donated two cultural items to the 
PMAE that were acquired from Paul Schumacher's 1875 San Nicolas Island 
expedition. The items are known to have been collected by Schumacher 
because he wrote his name, the island of origin, and a catalog number 
on each item. Based on the original catalog numbers, it appears the 
objects were collected during the 1875 joint Smithsonian Institution-
PMAE expedition. The date Engelmann acquired the cultural items from 
Schumacher is unknown.
    In 1910, PMAE received objects as part of an exchange with the 
American Antiquarian Society, including one cultural item collected by 
Schumacher. Schumacher labeled the mortar with his name, the island of 
origin, and a catalog number. Based on the original catalog number, it 
appears the object was collected during the 1875 joint Smithsonian 
Institution-PMAE expedition. It is unknown when the American 
Antiquarian Society acquired the mortar.
    The 76 unassociated funerary objects include 70 objects present in 
the Peabody Museum collections and six that are currently missing. The 
70 present unassociated funerary objects are 36 stone mortars, 28 stone 
pestles, five worked stones, and one spindle whorl. The six missing 
unassociated funerary objects are three stone mortars and three stone 
pestles.

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 evidence were 
used to reasonably trace the relationship: oral traditional, 
geographical, biological, and archeological.
    The combined oral traditional, geographical, biological, and 
archeological evidence indicates that a relationship of shared group 
identity can be reasonably traced between these unassociated funerary 
objects from San Nicolas Island, Ventura County, CA, and the Indian 
Tribes identified in this notice.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the PMAE has determined that:
     The 76 unassociated funerary objects 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 described in this 
notice and the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, California; Pala Band 
of Mission Indians; Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pauma 
& Yuima Reservation, California; Pechanga Band of Indians (Previously 
listed as Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pechanga 
Reservation, California); Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians (Previously 
listed as Rincon Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of Rincon Reservation, 
California); Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa 
Ynez Reservation, California; and the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians, 
California.

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 November 13, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the PMAE 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 PMAE 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.


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    Dated: October 10, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-22674 Filed 10-12-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P