Notice2023-05730
Notice of Inventory Completion: Rice University, Houston, TX
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 21, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Rice University has completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Brazoria County, TX.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 54 (Tuesday, March 21, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 21, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17011-17012]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05730]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035485; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Rice University, Houston, TX
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Rice University has completed an inventory
of human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined
that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and
associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian
organizations in this notice. The human remains and associated funerary
objects were removed from Brazoria County, TX.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary
objects in this notice may occur on or after April 20, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Dr. Susan K. McIntosh, Department of Anthropology, MS-20,
Rice University, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, telephone (713)
348-3380, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0a79616769634a7863696f246f6e7f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8ffce4e2ece6cffde6eceaa1eaebfa">[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 Rice
University. 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 Rice
University.
Description
In 1971, human remains representing at minimum, five individuals
were removed from the Shell Point site (41 BZ 2) in Brazoria County,
TX, by Rice University (Rice) during a salvage project at the eroding
shell midden on the margins of Chocolate Bayou. The human remains
recovered by Rice included five individuals who had been interred
together at the same time. Burial #1 contained the human remains of an
adult male, Burial #2 contained the human remains of a child 5-6 years
old, Burial #3 contained the human remains of an adult male. Burial #4
contained the human remains of an adult female, and Burial #5 contained
the human remains of an adult male. No known individuals were
identified. Eleven associated funerary objects were removed from the
burial pit: five conch shell beads, one conch shell pendant, four bone
awls, and one bone bead. Additionally, 137 pottery sherds were removed
from various excavation units at the site, but could not be determined
by the excavators to be contemporaneous with the burials. The 11
associated funerary objects are currently missing from the collection.
Rice University continues to look for these 11 missing objects.
In 1973, an analysis of human remains from the site was published
(Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society 44 (1973)). (This report
included human remains removed by non-Rice personnel from three
additional burials--#s 6, 7, and 8--sometime prior to the Rice
excavations, which were not curated at Rice and whose location is
unknown.) Based on the tall stature and ruggedness of the three males
listed in this notice, which accords with 19th
[[Page 17012]]
century descriptions of then-living Karankawa Indians, the 1973 report
concluded that ``there is little doubt that the Shell Point series can
be identified as Karankawa.''
Cultural Affiliation
The human remains and associated funerary objects 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: geographical, archeological, linguistic, historical, and
oral traditional.
Determinations
Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations, Rice University has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of five individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> The 11 objects described in this notice 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.
<bullet> There is a relationship of shared group identity that can
be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary
objects described in this notice and the Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of
Oklahoma.
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation
may be submitted by:
1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian
organizations 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.
Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after April 20, 2023. If
competing requests for repatriation are received, Rice University must
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation.
Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and associated
funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing
requests. Rice University is responsible for sending a copy of this
notice to the Indian Tribe 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, 10.10,
and 10.14.
Dated: March 15, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-05730 Filed 3-20-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on March 21, 2023.
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