[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 164 (Friday, August 23, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68190-68191]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-18964]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0038566; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intended Repatriation: Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH

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 Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin

[[Page 68191]]

College intends to repatriate a certain cultural item that meets the 
definition of an unassociated funerary object that has a cultural 
affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in 
this notice.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural item in this notice may occur on or 
after September 23, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Amy Margaris, Oberlin College, Department of 
Anthropology, King Building, 10 N Professor Street, Oberlin, OH 44074, 
telephone (440) 775-5173, email [email protected] and Dr. Andria 
Derstine, John G.W. Cowles Director, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin 
College, 87 N Main Street, Oberlin, OH 44074, telephone (440) 775-6872, 
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 
Oberlin College, 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 one cultural item has been requested for repatriation. 
The one unassociated funerary object is a ceramic vessel. The vessel 
(object number 1920.8, ``Water Bottle in the Shape of a Bird'') is 
housed in the Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) on the campus of Oberlin 
College and was attributed in some AMAM records as Peruvian 
(Chim[uacute]) in origin. However, other AMAM records describe it as 
``American Indian, 1100-1400, Gift of Mrs. H.H. Wright, 1920'' which 
accords with a paper label on the vessel bottom that reads ``This Water 
Jar was taken from a [. . .] grave in Prehistoric gravey [. . ., 
presumably ``graveyard''] S of Nashville--Aug. 1885. H.'' [. . ., 
presumably H.H. Wright]. Herbert H. Wright was an 1873 graduate of 
Oberlin College who served as professor of mathematics and music at 
Fisk University in Nashville, TN, and is described in Antiquities of 
Tennessee (Gates P. Thruston, 1897) as having discovered a bird-shaped 
vessel in the Noel Cemetery. Noel Cemetery (40DV3) in Davidson County, 
TN, is a well-documented Native American burial site dating to the 
Mississippian period. It is not known if any potentially hazardous 
substances were used to treat this cultural item.

Determinations

    Oberlin College has determined that:
     The one unassociated funerary object described in this 
notice is reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or 
near human remains, and is 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 an 
Indian Tribe. The unassociated funerary object has been identified by a 
preponderance of the evidence as removed from a specific burial site 
with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe.
     There is a reasonable connection between the cultural item 
described in this notice 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 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 September 23, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, Oberlin College 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. Oberlin College 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: August 20, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-18964 Filed 8-22-24; 8:45 am]
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