[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 3, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 399-400]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28927]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037172; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Yale University 
Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

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 Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) 
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 Elmore County and Macon County, 
AL.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after February 2, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Stephanie Wiles, Director, Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 
Chapel Street, New Haven, CT 06510, telephone (203) 432-7802, 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 YUAG. 
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 YUAG.

Description

    Eight lots of cultural items were probably removed from several 
locations in Elmore County and Macon County, AL, by Peter A. Brannon, 
most likely between 1909 and 1934. Brannon was employed at the Alabama 
Department of Archives and History and donated the cultural items to 
YUAG in 1935. Of the eight lots of unassociated funerary objects, seven 
were probably removed from Elmore County and include 171 ceramic and 
glass beads from the Upper Creek Town Fusihatchi. Three bronze 
ornaments and 106 glass and ceramic beads were probably removed from 
the Upper Creek Town Huithlewalli. Three metal ring fragments and 224 
glass beads were probably removed from Tallapoosa Swamp at Fort 
Toulouse. Forty-five glass and ceramic beads were probably removed from 
the Tallapoosa River area. One lot of 1,000 glass beads was probably 
removed from the Upper Creek Town Thlopthlocco (Laplako) in Macon 
County.

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 geographical information.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, YUAG has determined 
that:
     The eight lots of 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 specific burial sites of Native American individuals.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and The Muscogee 
(Creek) 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

[[Page 400]]

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 February 2, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, YUAG 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. YUAG 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. 3004, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.8, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: December 20, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-28927 Filed 1-2-24; 8:45 am]
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