[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 203 (Monday, October 23, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72789-72790]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23288]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036765; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Cobb Institute of Archaeology, 
Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS

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 Cobb Institute of Archaeology, 
Mississippi State University (CIA) 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 Oktibbeha County, MS.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after November 22, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Jimmy Hardin, CIA Director; Tony Boudreaux, CIA Curator; and 
Shawn Lambert, Assistant Professor and NAGPRA Coordinator, Cobb 
Institute of Archaeology, 340 Lee Boulevard, Mississippi State, MS 
39762, telephone (662) 325-3826, 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 
Cobb Institute of Archaeology. 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 Cobb Institute of Archaeology.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, 157 individuals were 
removed from Oktibbeha County, MS. Lyon's Bluff (22OK520) is a mound 
and village complex located in the Black Prairie region in northeastern 
Oktibbeha County, MS. The site was first occupied between A.D. 1100 and 
1650. During archeological work in 2021, a second Choctaw occupation, 
dating from the late 1700s to circa 1850, was discovered.
    In the summers of 1934 and 1935, Moreau Chambers, in association 
with

[[Page 72790]]

the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH), undertook 
the first excavations at Lyon's Bluff. Chambers never formally 
documented the field work, and the finds he recovered were thought to 
be lost. Recently, human remains belonging to five individuals removed 
by Chambers were discovered at MDAH, and in 2022, they were transferred 
to the Cobb Institute of Archaeology.
    In 1965, Richard Marshall, an archeologist at Mississippi State 
University, together with members of the Mississippi Archaeological 
Association (MAA) in Oktibbeha County, excavated a midden area in the 
northeast areas of the site. In 1967, Marshall and others from 
Mississippi State University and the University of Mississippi 
conducted a joint field school, during which two large blocks were 
excavated and the human remains of, at minimum, 67 individuals were 
removed and sent to Mississippi State University. Marshall continued to 
excavate at Lyon's Bluff throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, 
during which he removed additional burials.
    Following Marshall's excavations, Mississippi State University 
continued to hold field schools at Lyon's Bluff, in 2001 and 2003. Most 
recently, in the summer of 2021, Shawn Lambert, Assistant Professor at 
Mississippi State University, in collaboration with the Choctaw, led an 
archeological survey and excavation at the site. Their work revealed a 
significant historic Choctaw component overlying three pre-European 
Contact house mounds.
    The 442 associated funerary objects are 75 lots consisting of 
ceramics sherds, 56 shell fragments, 143 lots consisting of faunal 
remains, 25 pieces of lithic debitage, 10 stone tools, 45 lots 
consisting of daub, one worked fossil, eight charcoal samples, seven 
soil samples, five bone awls, three pieces of fired clay, two drilled 
bear teeth, one charred corn cob, two pieces of limestone, two turtle 
shells, one necklace composed of shell beads and bear teeth, four 
ceramic ear plugs, one stone, three ground stones, two shell beads, 
three charred acorns, one charred seed, 10 pieces of sandstone, 11 
worked shells, two greenstone celts, six bone tools, four ceramic 
discoidals, two shell gorgets, one fire-cracked rock, one partial stone 
palette, one nail, one gorget composed of incised turtle shell, one 
stone ear plug, one nutting stone, and one utilized deer antler.

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, oral traditional, and other information or 
expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Cobb Institute of Archaeology has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 157 individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 442 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 Jena Band of Choctaw Indians; 
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians; and The Choctaw Nation of 
Oklahoma.

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 November 22, 2023. 
If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Cobb Institute 
of Archaeology 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 Cobb Institute of Archaeology 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 10.9, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: October 11, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-23288 Filed 10-20-23; 8:45 am]
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