Notice2023-04901
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
March 10, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) 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 a site between Matamoras and Dingman's Ferry in Pike County, Pennsylvania.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 47 (Friday, March 10, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 47 (Friday, March 10, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15071-15072]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-04901]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035451; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston, 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 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA)
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 a site between Matamoras and
Dingman's Ferry in Pike County, Pennsylvania.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after April 10, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Julia McCarthy, Interim Director of Collections, Museum of
Fine Arts Boston, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, telephone
(617) 369-3499, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#91fbfcf2f2f0e3e5f9e8d1fcf7f0bffee3f6"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a2c8cfc1c1c3d0d6cadbe2cfc4c38ccdd0c5">[email protected]</span></a>.
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
MFA. 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 MFA.
Description
The 11 cultural items were removed in 1962 from the property of
Marie Zimmermann, located between Matamoras and Dingman's Ferry, in
Pike County, Pennsylvania. The site was excavated by Lenape Chapter 12
of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology. During these excavations,
22 Native American graves were uncovered. The objects listed in this
notice were kept by an amateur archeologist working at the site. His
widow sold them to a New Jersey dealer who, in turn, sold them to the
MFA in 1993.
The 11 unassociated funerary objects are seven earthenware vessels
(MFA accession nos. 1993.611-1993.616 and 1993.621), two earthenware
pipes (1993.617-1993.618), one stone bowl (1993.619), and one stone
plumb bob (1993.620). They have been dated to about A.D. 1340 based on
their appearance.
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: archeological, geographical,
and historical.
Determinations
Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations, the MFA has determined that:
<bullet> The 11 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.
<bullet> There is a relationship of shared group identity that can
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and
[[Page 15072]]
the Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; Delaware Tribe of Indians; and the
Stockbridge Munsee Community, Wisconsin.
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 April 10, 2023. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the MFA 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 MFA 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 10.8, Sec.
10.10, and Sec. 10.14.
Dated: March 1, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-04901 Filed 3-9-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on March 10, 2023.
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