[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 146 (Tuesday, July 30, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61136-61137]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-16703]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0038347; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intended Repatriation: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 
New York, NY

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 Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) 
intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition 
of unassociated funerary objects or objects of cultural patrimony and 
that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native 
Hawaiian organizations listed in this notice.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after August 29, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Jennifer Day, NAGPRA Coordinator & Community Liaison, The 
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028, 
telephone (212) 396-2616, 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 
Met, and additional information on the determinations in this notice, 
including the results of consultation, can be found in the summary or 
related records. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

    A total of nine cultural items have been requested for 
repatriation. The five objects of cultural patrimony are one Raven 
Rattle (Met acc. no. 1979.206.439), one Dagger (1979.206.884), two 
Ceremonial Robes (Chilkat Blankets) (1979.206.1040 and 1986.476.8), and 
one Headdress Frontlet (2011.154.37). The four unassociated funerary 
objects are one necklace with

[[Page 61137]]

pendants (1978.412.212), one amulet (1979.206.518), one transformation 
mask (2002.602.2a-d), and one mask (1979.206.440). The latter mask was 
obtained by Walter C. Waters in Wrangell, AK, under unknown conditions. 
Consultation with the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian 
Tribes indicate that these four items were shamanic items and so likely 
would have been placed at the shaman's gravesite. Museum records 
indicate that the cultural items are from Alaska; with the exceptions 
indicated, the Met has no other geographical information about the 
items.

Determinations

    The Met has reasonably determined that:
     The four unassociated funerary objects described in this 
notice are reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with 
or near human remains, and are connected, either at the time of death 
or later as part of the death rite or ceremony of a Native American 
culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a 
lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. The 
unassociated funerary objects have been identified by a preponderance 
of the evidence as related to human remains, specific individuals, or 
families, or removed from a specific burial site or burial area of an 
individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe 
or Native Hawaiian organization.
     The five objects of cultural patrimony described in this 
notice have ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance 
central to the Native American group, including any constituent sub-
group (such as a band, clan, lineage, ceremonial society, or other 
subdivision), according to the Native American traditional knowledge of 
an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization, and furthermore, these 
objects are reasonably identified as being of such importance central 
to the group that they cannot or could not be alienated, appropriated, 
or conveyed by any person, including their caretaker, regardless of 
whether the person is a member of the group, and they have been 
considered inalienable by the group at the time the object was 
separated from the group.
     There is a reasonable connection between the cultural 
items described in this notice and the Central Council of the Tlingit & 
Haida Indian Tribes.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items 
in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified 
in this notice under 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 August 29, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the Met 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 Met is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to 
the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in This 
Notice And To Any Other Consulting Parties.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

    Dated: July 17, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-16703 Filed 7-29-24; 8:45 am]
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