Notice2023-08808
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, Mobile, AL
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
April 26, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, 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 Lowndes and Monroe Counties, MS.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 80 (Wednesday, April 26, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 26, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25425-25426]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-08808]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035710; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Mobile District, Mobile, AL
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 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile
District, 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 Lowndes and Monroe
Counties, MS.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after May 26, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Ms. Alexandria Smith, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile
District, 109 St. Joseph Street, P.O. Box 2288, Mobile, AL 36628-0001,
telephone (251) 690-2728, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#85c4e9e0fde4ebe1f7ece4abcbabd6e8ecf1edc5f0f6e4e6e0abe4f7e8fcabe8ece9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="31705d5449505f554358501f7f1f625c5845597144425052541f50435c481f5c585d">[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
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District. 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 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District.
Description
Thirty cultural items were removed from Lowndes County, MS. The
Cofferdam Site (22LO599) is an Early through Late Woodland occupation
site featuring some Miller II components. Cofferdam was identified by
Army Corps of Engineers personnel during the excavation of the
cofferdam for the Columbus Lock and Dam of the Tennessee-Tombigbee
Waterway, and it was excavated by the Mississippi State University
Department of Anthropology under the direction of James R. Atkinson and
field crew chief G. Gerald Berry from mid-August to the first week of
October 1975. The 30 lots of unassociated funerary objects are consist
of four lots of lithics, one lot of noncultural rock, two lots of
pebbles, two lots ceramics, three lots of shells, seven lots of faunal
remains, one lot of flotation samples, one lot of sandstone, three lots
of clay, one lot of daub, two lots of firecracked rock, two lots of
groundstone, and one lot of nuts.
Nine cultural items were removed from Lowndes County, MS. The River
Cut site (22LO860) is a small village site containing Woodland and
Mississippian components as well as Miller III components with some
signs of possible Miller II habitation. The site was reported to the
USACE, Mobile District, in 1983, and following the salvage removal of a
burial from an eroding bank in 1984, the site was excavated by the Cobb
Institute of Archaeology, Mississippi State University, under principal
investigator Janet Rafferty, with Mary Evelyn Starr, between December
29 and 30, 1985 and from July 23 through September 29, 1986. The nine
lots of unassociated funerary objects consist of four lots of ceramics,
one lot of lithics, one lot of faunal remains, one lot of shells, one
lot of charcoal, and one lot of soil samples.
Three cultural items were removed from Monroe County, MS. One of
several sites identified during early mitigation measures for the
prospective Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway, the SW Amory site (22MO710)
was excavated between December 1978 and May 1979 under the direction of
Judith A. Bense. No further work was ever conducted. The three lots of
unassociated funerary objects consist of one lot of faunal remains, one
lot of lithics, and one lot of soil samples.
[[Page 25426]]
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,
historical, other 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 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District has
determined that:
<bullet> The 42 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 The Chickasaw
Nation.
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 May 26, 2023. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile
District 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 U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Mobile District 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 10.8, 10.10,
and 10.14.
Dated: April 19, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-08808 Filed 4-25-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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