[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 12 (Thursday, January 18, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3417-3418]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00833]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037265; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and 
Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

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 Peabody Museum of Archaeology and 
Ethnology, Harvard University (PMAE) has completed an inventory of 
human remains and has determined that there is no cultural affiliation 
between the human remains and any Indian Tribe. The human remains were 
removed from Suffolk County, NY.

DATES: Disposition of the human remains in this notice may occur on or 
after February 20, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Patricia Capone, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and 
Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, telephone (617) 
496-3702, 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 
PMAE. 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 PMAE.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, three individuals were 
removed from Suffolk County, NY. William Wallace Tooker collected these 
individuals, each represented by cranium, at an unknown date and sold 
them to the Brooklyn Museum in 1901. The Brooklyn Museum transferred 
these individuals to the PMAE as part of a permanent loan in 1938; the 
loan was converted to a gift in 1964. No associated funerary objects 
are present.
    An inventory of the objects and human remains purchased from Tooker 
by the Brooklyn Museum indicates that Tooker collected three human 
crania from Long Island in three discrete locations: a grave in Sag 
Harbor, a grave in East Hampton in a Meeting House lot, and a grave in 
Nissequogue. All three localities are within Suffolk County on Long 
Island. The inventory indicates that the individual found in Sag Harbor 
was collected with a broken ceramic vessel from a ``grave near Otter 
Pond Shell Heap.'' The presence of a ceramic vessel dates the burial to 
the Woodland Period (post 1000 BC) or later. This vessel is not located 
at the PMAE and its location is unknown. The inventory also indicates 
that the individual from East Hampton was buried in 1662 and was 
excavated along with a glass bottle; the bottle is also not located at 
the PMAE and its location is unknown. The presence of a glass bottle 
indicates a post-Contact (post A.D. 1600) burial date for the East 
Hampton individual. No geographical, temporal, or associated object 
information is provided for the individual from Nissequogue. No 
funerary objects were transferred to the PMAE with the individual from 
Nissequogue.
    Insufficient evidence is present to reassociate these three 
individuals with Tooker's original provenience information; 
consequently, their burial locations cannot be identified beyond

[[Page 3418]]

Suffolk County, NY, and no temporal information for their interments 
can be established.

Aboriginal Land

    The human remains 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: authoritative documents.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, the PMAE has 
determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of three individuals of Native American ancestry.
     No relationship of shared group identity can be reasonably 
traced between the human remains and any Indian Tribe.
     The human remains described in this notice were removed 
from the aboriginal land of the Shinnecock Indian Nation.

Requests for Disposition

    Written requests for disposition of the human remains 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 described in this notice to a 
requestor may occur on or after February 20, 2024. If competing 
requests for disposition are received, the PMAE must determine the most 
appropriate requestor prior to disposition. Requests for joint 
disposition of the human remains are considered a single request and 
not competing requests. The PMAE 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: January 11, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-00833 Filed 1-17-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P