[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 32 (Thursday, February 15, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11864-11865]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-03091]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037388; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Robert S. Peabody 
Institute of Archaeology, Andover, 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 Robert S. Peabody Institute of 
Archaeology 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 unknown locations in 
Tennessee and sites along the Little Tennessee River, Monroe County, 
TN.

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

ADDRESSES: Ryan J. Wheeler, Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, 
Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover, MA 01810, telephone (978) 
749-4490, 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 
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology. 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 Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology.

Description

    Fourteen cultural items were removed from Monroe County, TN. The 14 
unassociated funerary objects are two lots of ceramic sherds (271/01 
and 271/15), one antler tool (271/02), one lot of unmodified shell 
(271/03), one shell ornament (271/04), three lots of chipped stone 
tools and tool-making debitage (271/05; 271/07, and 271/08), one 
obsidian pestle (271/09), three lots of ground stone tools (271/11; 
271/13; and 271/17), one bone flute (271/19), and one stone axe (271/
16). In 1942, George Sherwood removed cultural items from several 
historic Cherokee town sites along the Little Tennessee River above 
Fort Loudoun. Sherwood transferred the cultural items to the Robert S. 
Peabody Institute of Archaeology (then known as the Robert S. Peabody 
Foundation for Archaeology) in 1981.
    Ninety-six cultural items were removed from unknown sites in 
Tennessee, likely northwestern Tennessee. The 96 unassociated funerary 
objects are three lots of stone anvils, one lot of stone axes, nine 
lots of stone bifaces, three lots of stone celts, nine lots chipped 
stone tools, one lot stone choppers, one lot stone cores, two lots 
stone debitage, four lots stone edge tools, two lots chipped stone 
flakes, three lots ground stone items, four lots hammerstones, nine 
lots knives, three lots miscellaneous stone tools, one lot mortars, one 
lot stone nodules, one lot pebbles, four lots stone perforators, two 
lots stone pestles, 24 lots chipped stone points, eight lot scrapers, 
and one large animal tooth. Catalog numbers for these cultural items 
range from 25433 through 25530, with the exception of Catalog ID 25434, 
which was not assigned. In 1903, Mollie Hall, a resident of 
Hopkinsville, KY, transferred 96 cultural items from Tennessee to the 
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology (then known as the 
Department of Archaeology, Phillips Academy). More detailed provenance 
was not given for the cultural items, though Hall may have been 
removing items from localities in northwestern Tennessee, near 
Hopkinsville, KY, where she lived.

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, 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 Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology has 
determined that:
     The 110 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 March 18, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the Robert S. Peabody Institute of 
Archaeology 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 Robert S. 
Peabody Institute of Archaeology is responsible for sending a copy of 
this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations 
identified in this notice.
    This notice was submitted before the effective date of the revised 
regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 12, 
2024). As the notice conforms to the mandatory format of the Federal 
Register and

[[Page 11865]]

includes the required information, the National Park Service is 
publishing this notice as submitted.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3004, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

    Dated: February 7, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-03091 Filed 2-14-24; 8:45 am]
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