[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 3, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 406-407]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28929]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037176; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Nashville District, Nashville, TN, and University of Tennessee, 
Department of Anthropology, Knoxville, TN

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 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville 
District in cooperation with the University of Tennessee, Department of 
Anthropology (UTK) has completed an inventory of human remains and 
associated funerary objects and has determined that there is no 
cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects and any Indian Tribe. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from Stewart County, TN.

DATES: Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice may occur on or after February 2, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Crystal Geiger, Archaeologist, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Nashville District, 110 9th Avenue South, Room A-405, Nashville, TN 
37203, telephone (615) 736-2472, email [email protected] 
and Dr. Ozlem Kilic, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University of 
Tennessee, 527 Andy Holt Tower, Knoxville, TN 37996-0152, telephone 
(865) 974-2454, email [email protected] and [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 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District. 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 inventory or related 
records held by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District.

Description

    In 1959, Michael D. Coe and F. William Fischer of the University of 
Tennessee undertook archeological research at the Stone site (40SW23) 
prior to the inundation of Lake Barkley. Coe and Fisher documented 
extensive looting and encountered few undisturbed areas of the site. 
Artifacts indicate a Mississippian occupation. Notices of Inventory 
Completion were published in the Federal Register on July 19, 2017 (82 
FR 33155-33156), July 6, 2020 (85 FR 40314), and May 24, 2023 (88 FR 
33635) listing human remains and associated funerary objects from this 
site that have been repatriated. Subsequently, 19 additional funerary 
objects associated with these individuals were discovered in University 
of Tennessee collections. The collection is stored in the McClung 
Museum, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. The 19 associated 
funerary objects are four lots of faunal bones, four lots of lithics, 
four lots of ceramic sherds, two lots of botanical material, three lots 
of coal fragments, and two dog mandible fragments.
    In 1959, human remains representing, at minimum, six individuals 
were removed from the Shamble site (40SW41) in Stewart County, TN. 
Michael D. Coe and F. William Fischer of the University of Tennessee 
undertook archeological research at the Shamble site prior to the 
inundation of Lake Barkley. Artifacts indicate Woodland and 
Mississippian occupation and a mound at the site dates to the 
Mississippian period. The collection is stored in the McClung Museum, 
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN. The human remains belong to 
four adults of indeterminate sex and two subadults. The 23 associated 
funerary objects are one lot of lithics, three lots, 15 faunal bones, 
three lots of ceramics sherds, and one lot of coal fragments. (A Notice 
of Inventory Completion for additional human remains and associated 
funerary objects from this site was published in the Federal Register 
on July 19, 2017 (82 FR 33155-33156). The repatriation and reburial of 
those human remains and associated funerary objects took place in 
August of 2018.)

Aboriginal Land

    The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice 
were removed from known geographic locations. These locations are the 
aboriginal lands of one or more Indian Tribes. The following 
information was used to identify the aboriginal land: a final judgment 
of the Indian Claims Commission or the United States Court of Claims 
and treaties.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate

[[Page 407]]

Indian Tribes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District has 
determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of six individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 42 objects described in this notice 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.
     No relationship of shared group identity can be reasonably 
traced between the human remains and associated funerary objects and 
any Indian Tribe.
     The associated funerary objects described in this notice 
were removed from the aboriginal land of the Cherokee Nation; Eastern 
Band of Cherokee Indians; and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee 
Indians in Oklahoma.

Requests for Disposition

    Written requests for disposition of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for disposition 
may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes identified in this notice.
    2. 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, or who shows that the requestor is an aboriginal land 
Indian Tribe.
    Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after February 
2, 2024. If competing requests for disposition are received, the U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District must determine the most 
appropriate requestor prior to disposition. Requests for joint 
disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects are 
considered a single request and not competing requests. The U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers, Nashville District is responsible for sending a 
copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9 and 
10.11.

    Dated: December 20, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-28929 Filed 1-2-24; 8:45 am]
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