[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 217 (Monday, November 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77610-77611]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24887]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036899; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Saint Louis 
Science Center, St. Louis, MO

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 Saint Louis Science Center (SLSC) 
intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition 
of unassociated funerary objects and certain cultural items that meet 
the definition of objects of cultural patrimony and that have a 
cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations in this notice. The cultural items were removed from 
Jefferson and New Madrid Counties, MO.

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

ADDRESSES: Kristina Hampton, Manager of Collections and Special 
Projects, Saint Louis Science Center, 5050 Oakland Avenue, St. Louis, 
MO 63110, telephone (314) 286-4672, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the 
National Park Service's administrative

[[Page 77611]]

responsibilities under NAGPRA. The determinations in this notice are 
the sole responsibility of the SLSC. 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 SLSC.

Description

    Twenty-nine cultural items were removed from Jefferson County, MO, 
and 12 cultural items were removed from New Madrid County, MO, by 
archeologist Robert McCormick Adams between 1939 and 1942 during 
archeological investigations in the state. In 1939 and 1940, Adams 
conducted the investigations in Jefferson County, MO, on behalf of the 
Academy of Science of St. Louis and sponsored by the Works Projects 
Administration (WPA), with support from Washington University of St. 
Louis, the Missouri Resources Museum in Jefferson City, MO, the 
Illinois State Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, 
DC. The bulk of the items removed during these excavations were taken 
to the Academy of Science of St. Louis while a representative ratio of 
duplicate materials excavated were sent to the Illinois State Museum 
and to the Smithsonian Institution. In 1941 and 1942, Adams directed 
investigations in in New Madrid County, MO, for the WPA, sponsored by 
the Academy of Science of St. Louis and the Missouri Resources Museum. 
The items removed during these excavations were taken to the Academy of 
Science of St. Louis.
    In 1959, the Academy of Science of St. Louis created the Museum of 
Science and Natural History in St. Louis, MO. In 1972, the Museum of 
Science and Natural History separated from the Academy of Science of 
St. Louis and control of this collection was transferred to the Museum 
of Science and Natural History. In 1985, when the Museum of Science and 
Natural History joined with St. Louis City's Planetarium, the newly 
formed institution was named the Saint Louis Science Center. This 
collection remains with the SLSC and is used to support the SLSC's 
mission, exhibits, and programs.
    The 36 unassociated funerary objects are 13 ceramic jars, nine 
ceramic bowls, one ceramic bottle, one ceramic pot, four projectile 
points, four soil samples, two adzes, one axe, and one shell bead 
necklace. The five objects of cultural patrimony are one ceramic pipe, 
one bone effigy hair pin, two ceramic ear plugs, and one ceramic human 
effigy.

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: oral tradition, linguistics, 
archeological data, and historical information.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the SLSC has determined that:
     The 36 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.
     The 5 cultural items described above have ongoing 
historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native 
American group or culture itself, rather than property owned by an 
individual.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and The Osage 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 13, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the SLSC 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 SLSC is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to 
the Indian Tribe 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: November 1, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-24887 Filed 11-9-23; 8:45 am]
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