Notice2023-11011
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Nashville, TN
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
May 24, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC-DOA) 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 Madison, Obion, and Perry Counties, TN.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 100 (Wednesday, May 24, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 100 (Wednesday, May 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33638-33639]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11011]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035906; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation, Nashville, TN
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 Tennessee Department of Environment and
Conservation (TDEC-DOA) 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
Madison, Obion, and Perry Counties, TN.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after June 23, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Phillip R. Hodge, Tennessee Department of Environment and
Conservation, Division of Archaeology, 1216 Foster Avenue, Cole
Building #3, Nashville, TN 37243, telephone (615) 626-2025, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6e3e0607024026010a090b2e1a0040090118"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b5e5dddcd99bfddad1d2d0f5c1db9bd2dac3">[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
TDEC-DOA. 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 TDEC-DOA.
Description
In 1963, 1981, and 1983, archeologists with the TDEC-DOA removed 68
cultural items from site 40MD1 in Madison County, TN. The 68
unassociated funerary object include 46 lots of fragmentary artifacts
from burial fill consisting of copper, fiber matting, fibrous material,
unidentified organic material, cane-impressed clay and daub, charcoal
samples, burned wood, unidentified bones, lithic debitage, burned
sandstone, siltstone, fire cracked rock, mica, faunal bones, and
shells; 12 lots of fragmentary artifacts from features interpreted to
be cremations consisting of lithic debitage, sandstone, quartz crystal
flakes, mica, ceramic sherds, unidentifiable bones and charcoal; four
lots consisting of lithic debitage, chipped stone tool fragments,
sandstone, quartz crystal flakes, mica, ceramic sherds, unidentifiable
bones, charcoal, and soil fragments with impressed cane matting; one
lot consisting of burned sandstone; one lot consisting of pearl and
shell beads from Mound 6; two lots of fragmentary artifacts from
features interpreted to be cremations consisting of unidentifiable bone
fragments and stone from Mound 12; one lot of fragmentary artifacts
from burial fill consisting of lithic debitage, burned sandstone, and
ceramic sherds; and one lot consisting of charcoal and burned organic
material from a cremation feature in Mound 31.
In 1985, archeologists with Arrow Enterprises of Bowling Green, KY,
working under contract to the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, removed
43 cultural items from site 40OB6 in Obion County, TN. The 43
unassociated funerary objects include eight lots of artifacts from
burial fill consisting of lithic debitage, fire cracked rock,
sandstone, shell fragments, ceramic sherds, burned clay fragments, and
unidentifiable calcined bone fragments; 34 lots of artifacts from
general mound fill consisting of lithic debitage, fire cracked rock,
fragmentary chipped stone tools, sandstone, pebbles, ceramic sherds,
burned clay fragments, charcoal, shells, and faunal bones; and one lot
consisting of unprocessed soil samples from mound contexts.
Between 1972 and 1976, archeologists with then Memphis State
University removed eight cultural items from site 40PY207 in Perry
County, TN. The eight unassociated funerary objects include one lot
consisting of commingled dog skeletal remains belonging to three dogs
and seven lots of burial fill consisting of lithic debitage,
fragmentary faunal materials, shells, fire cracked rock, daub, and
stone.
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: geographical and historical.
Determinations
Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations, the TDEC-DOA has determined that:
<bullet> The 119 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 specific burial sites of Native American individuals.
<bullet> There is a relationship of shared group identity that can
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Cherokee
Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; The Chickasaw Nation; 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 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 June 23, 2023. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the TDEC-DOA must determine the
[[Page 33639]]
most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint
repatriation of the cultural items are considered a single request and
not competing requests. The TDEC-DOA 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, 10.10,
and 10.14.
Dated: May 17, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-11011 Filed 5-23-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 24, 2023.
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