Notice2025-08044
Notice of Intended Repatriation: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, TN
Primary source
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Published
May 8, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GRSM) intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 88 (Thursday, May 8, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 88 (Thursday, May 8, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19523-19524]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-08044]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0040063; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: U.S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg,
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 U.S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GRSM)
intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition
of unassociated funerary objects that have a cultural affiliation with
the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after June 9, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Charles Sellars, Superintendent, Great Smoky Mountains
National Park, 107 Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, TN 37738,
telephone (865) 8436-1200, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#680b00091a040d1b371b0d0404091a1b2806181b460f071e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2d4e454c5f41485e725e4841414c5f5e6d435d5e034a425b">[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 GRSM
and additional information on the determinations in this notice,
including the results of consultation, can be found in the summary or
related records. The National Park Service is not responsible for the
determinations in this notice.
Abstract of Information Available
A total of 4,506 unassociated funerary objects have been requested
for repatriation. These include faunal remains and faunal fragments,
shell and shell fragments, ceramics and sherds, lithics and lithic
fragments, stone and stone tools, beads and bead fragments, ear spools,
pipe and pipe fragments, metal knife fragments, metal rings, trade
musket fragments, and a chert knife with a provenience of various sites
in Haywood, Jackson, and Swain counties, North Carolina (31HW188,
32JK3, 31SW1, 31SW53, 31SW67, 31SW90, 31SW150, 31SW154) and Blount and
Sevier counties, Tennessee (40BT8, 40SV127, 40SV126). All the objects
were acquired between 1935 and 1942 with the exception of all the
objects from 40BT8 which were donated in 1960, and one object collected
from private land and donated in 1991. No hazardous substances are
known to have been used to treat the cultural items.
Determinations
GRSM has determined that:
<bullet> The 4,506 unassociated funerary objects described in this
notice are reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with
or near human remains, and are connected, either at the time of death
or later as part of the death rite or ceremony of a Native American
culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a
lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. The
unassociated funerary objects have been identified by a preponderance
of the evidence as related to human remains, specific individuals, or
families, or removed from a specific burial site or burial area of an
individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe
or Native Hawaiian organization.
<bullet> There is a reasonable connection between the cultural
items described in this notice and the Cherokee Nation; Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians; 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 authorized representative identified
in this notice under 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 9, 2025. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, GRSM 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. GRSM is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the
Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in
[[Page 19524]]
this notice and to any other consulting parties.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.
Dated: April 22, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-08044 Filed 5-7-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 8, 2025.
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