Notice2023-23558
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, 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
October 25, 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 a certain cultural item that meets the definition of an unassociated funerary object and that has a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural item was removed from Hampden County, MA.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 205 (Wednesday, October 25, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 205 (Wednesday, October 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73374-73375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23558]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036827; 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 a certain
cultural item that meets the definition of an unassociated funerary
object and that has a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or
Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural item was
removed from Hampden County, MA.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural item in this notice may occur on or
after November 24, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Patricia Capone, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, telephone (617)
496-3702, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#92e2f1f3e2fdfcf7d2f4f3e1bcfaf3e0e4f3e0f6bcf7f6e7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="374754564758595277515644195f56454156455319525342">[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 one cultural item was removed from Hampden County, MA. The
cultural item was collected by Harry A. Wright from a cemetery at the
Long Hill site in Springfield, Hampden County, MA, between 1891 and
1896. Wright donated the cultural item to the PMAE in 1907. Wright
removed the cultural item from a grave containing the human remains of
at least 13 individuals. Wright described the individuals as embedded
in a layer of dry sand and surrounded by a layer of ``charcoal,'' which
may have been a misinterpretation of decayed woven burial mats. The
cultural item lay in the layer of ``charcoal'' and was not associated
with any specific individual. Descriptions of the burial indicate that
two metal spoons and European-made buckles were also interred with the
individuals and a few Dutch ``fairy pipes,'' flint flakes, and a stone
axe laid on and near the surface of the grave. None of these items are
in the possession of the Peabody Museum. The one unassociated funerary
object is a Colonoware cup.
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, kinship, linguistic, and oral tradition.
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 one cultural item described above is 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 is
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 item and the Stockbridge
Munsee Community, Wisconsin.
Requests for Repatriation
Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural item
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 item in this notice to a requestor may
occur on or after November 24, 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 item are
[[Page 73375]]
considered a single request and not competing requests. The PMAE is
responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and
Native Hawaiian organizations 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: October 18, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-23558 Filed 10-24-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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