[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 242 (Tuesday, December 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87795-87796]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-27792]


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

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037084; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: South Carolina 
Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South 
Carolina, Columbia, SC

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology 
and Anthropology (SCIAA) 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 
Oconee County, SC.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after January 18, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Nina Schreiner, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and 
Anthropology (SCIAA), College of Arts and Sciences, University of South 
Carolina, 1321 Pendleton Street, Columbia, SC 29208, 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 
SCIAA. 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 SCIAA.

Description

    In 1957, the two cultural items were removed from site 38OC55, Rock 
Cairn,

[[Page 87796]]

Oconee County, SC, by Mr. Marshall W. Williams. Williams transferred 
the items to SCIAA in 1970. The two unassociated funerary objects are 
one lot metal objects and one lot mixed material beads.
    In 1970, an additional cultural item was removed from the same 
site, 38OC55, by Mr. John D. Combes of SCIAA, during the Keowee Toxaway 
Reservoir salvage excavations conducted by SCIAA for Duke Power Company 
of Charlotte, NC. The one unassociated funerary object is one lot of 
ceramic objects.

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: anthropological information, 
archeological information, and historical information.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the SCIAA has determined that:
     The three 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 Cherokee 
Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; and the United Keetoowah Band 
of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

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 January 18, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the SCIAA 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 SCIAA 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: December 8, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-27792 Filed 12-18-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P