[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76851-76852]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24532]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036874; 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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and 
Ethnology (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 were 
removed from Coahoma County, MS.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after December 7, 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 109 cultural items were removed from the Oliver Site 
(Mississippi State Site number 22Co503) in Coahoma County, MS, in 1901 
and 1902 as part of a Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology 
expedition to Mississippi led by Charles Peabody and William C. 
Farabee. The 109 unassociated funerary objects include 105 objects that 
are present at the PMAE and four objects that are not currently 
located. The 105 present unassociated funerary objects are four brass 
beads, two glass beads, two quartz beads, 14 shell beads, one lot 
consisting of turquoise beads, two bone tools, one brass Clarksdale 
bell, four ceramic sherds, one lot consisting of ceramic sherds, 58 
ceramic vessels or vessel fragments, 12 lots consisting of ceramic 
vessels or vessel fragments, two faunal bones, one mica fragment, and 
one perforated stone. The four objects not currently located are one 
lot consisting of shell beads, one lot consisting of ceramic vessels or 
vessel fragments, one lot consisting of lithic points, and one lot 
consisting of a perforated shell.

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

[[Page 76852]]

trace the relationship: anthropological information, archeological 
information, biological information, folklore, geographical 
information, historical information, kinship, linguistics, oral 
tradition, other relevant 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 PMAE has determined that:
     The 109 cultural items 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 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 items and the Quapaw Nation.

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 December 7, 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 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, Sec.  
10.10, and Sec.  10.14.

    Dated: October 27, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-24532 Filed 11-6-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P