[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 245 (Friday, December 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 88648-88649]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28182]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037127; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: The Filson 
Historical Society, Louisville, KY

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 Filson Historical Society 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 Essex County, VA.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after January 22, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Kelly Hyberger, Filson Historical Society, 1310 South Third 
Street, Louisville, KY 40208, telephone (502) 635-5083, 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 
Filson Historical Society. 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 Filson 
Historical Society.

Description

    The one unassociated funerary object was removed from Essex County, 
VA. On July 21, 1936, construction workers uncovered a Native American 
grave on the grounds of the county courthouse in Rappahannock, Essex 
County, VA. Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston collected a stone grooved ax 
from the burial; he did not take possession of the ancestral remains. 
Thruston donated the ax to the Filson Historical Society on July 26, 
1936. The one unassociated funerary object is a grooved stone ax.

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

[[Page 88649]]

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: 
geographical information, historical information, and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Filson Historical Society 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 
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 Rappahannock 
Tribe, Inc.

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 22, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the Filson Historical Society 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 Filson Historical Society 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 13, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-28182 Filed 12-21-23; 8:45 am]
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