Notice2023-22674
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Primary source
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Published
October 13, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University (PMAE) 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 Ventura County, CA.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 197 (Friday, October 13, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 197 (Friday, October 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71019-71020]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-22674]
[[Page 71019]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036746; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Peabody Museum of
Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 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 Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University (PMAE) 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 Ventura County, CA.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after November 13, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Patricia Capone, PMAE, Harvard University, 11 Divinity
Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, telephone (617) 496-3702, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6b1b080a1b04050e2b0d0a1845030a191d0a190f450e0f1e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="02726163726d6c67426463712c6a6370746370662c676677">[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
PMAE. 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 PMAE.
Description
The 76 cultural items were removed from San Nicolas Island in
Ventura County, CA. In 1875, Paul Schumacher led a joint expedition on
behalf of the Smithsonian Institution and the PMAE that included a
visit to San Nicolas Island, where he excavated numerous burials. The
human remains from these burials were sent to the Smithsonian
Institution, but some funerary objects were sent to the PMAE. Museum
documentation also indicates that Schumacher sold items he collected in
the Channel Islands to private collectors.
In 1877, the PMAE acquired items from the Smithsonian Institution
that were duplicate objects in their collection from Paul Schumacher's
1875 San Nicolas Island expedition. The cultural items collected on San
Nicolas Island during that expedition were from funerary contexts.
In 1896, Dr. George J. Engelmann donated two cultural items to the
PMAE that were acquired from Paul Schumacher's 1875 San Nicolas Island
expedition. The items are known to have been collected by Schumacher
because he wrote his name, the island of origin, and a catalog number
on each item. Based on the original catalog numbers, it appears the
objects were collected during the 1875 joint Smithsonian Institution-
PMAE expedition. The date Engelmann acquired the cultural items from
Schumacher is unknown.
In 1910, PMAE received objects as part of an exchange with the
American Antiquarian Society, including one cultural item collected by
Schumacher. Schumacher labeled the mortar with his name, the island of
origin, and a catalog number. Based on the original catalog number, it
appears the object was collected during the 1875 joint Smithsonian
Institution-PMAE expedition. It is unknown when the American
Antiquarian Society acquired the mortar.
The 76 unassociated funerary objects include 70 objects present in
the Peabody Museum collections and six that are currently missing. The
70 present unassociated funerary objects are 36 stone mortars, 28 stone
pestles, five worked stones, and one spindle whorl. The six missing
unassociated funerary objects are three stone mortars and three stone
pestles.
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 evidence were
used to reasonably trace the relationship: oral traditional,
geographical, biological, and archeological.
The combined oral traditional, geographical, biological, and
archeological evidence indicates that a relationship of shared group
identity can be reasonably traced between these unassociated funerary
objects from San Nicolas Island, Ventura County, CA, and the Indian
Tribes identified in this notice.
Determinations
Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations, the PMAE has determined that:
<bullet> The 76 unassociated funerary objects 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 described in this
notice and the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, California; Pala Band
of Mission Indians; Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pauma
& Yuima Reservation, California; Pechanga Band of Indians (Previously
listed as Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pechanga
Reservation, California); Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians (Previously
listed as Rincon Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of Rincon Reservation,
California); Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa
Ynez Reservation, California; and the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians,
California.
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 November 13, 2023. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the PMAE 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 PMAE 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.
[[Page 71020]]
Dated: October 10, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-22674 Filed 10-12-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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