[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 205 (Wednesday, October 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73374-73375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23558]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036827; 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 a certain 
cultural item that meets the definition of an unassociated funerary 
object and that has a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural item was 
removed from Hampden County, MA.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural item in this notice may occur on or 
after November 24, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Patricia Capone, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and 
Ethnology, 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 one cultural item was removed from Hampden County, MA. The 
cultural item was collected by Harry A. Wright from a cemetery at the 
Long Hill site in Springfield, Hampden County, MA, between 1891 and 
1896. Wright donated the cultural item to the PMAE in 1907. Wright 
removed the cultural item from a grave containing the human remains of 
at least 13 individuals. Wright described the individuals as embedded 
in a layer of dry sand and surrounded by a layer of ``charcoal,'' which 
may have been a misinterpretation of decayed woven burial mats. The 
cultural item lay in the layer of ``charcoal'' and was not associated 
with any specific individual. Descriptions of the burial indicate that 
two metal spoons and European-made buckles were also interred with the 
individuals and a few Dutch ``fairy pipes,'' flint flakes, and a stone 
axe laid on and near the surface of the grave. None of these items are 
in the possession of the Peabody Museum. The one unassociated funerary 
object is a Colonoware cup.

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, geographical, 
historical, kinship, linguistic, and oral tradition.

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 one cultural item described above is 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 is 
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 item and the Stockbridge 
Munsee Community, Wisconsin.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural item 
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 item in this notice to a requestor may 
occur on or after November 24, 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 item are

[[Page 73375]]

considered a single request and not competing requests. The PMAE 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 10.8, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: October 18, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-23558 Filed 10-24-23; 8:45 am]
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