Notice2026-00859
Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA
Primary source
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Published
January 16, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) has completed an inventory of human remains and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 11 (Friday, January 16, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 11 (Friday, January 16, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2143-2144]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-00859]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6877; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041858; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Pennsylvania Museum
of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA
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 University of Pennsylvania Museum of
Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) has completed an inventory
of human remains and has determined that there is a cultural
affiliation between the human remains and Indian Tribes or Native
Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or
after February 17, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
in this notice to Dr. Christopher Woods, Williams Director, University
of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 3260 South
Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6324, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c2a6abb0a7a1b6adb082b2a7acacafb7b1a7b7afecadb0a5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="debab7acbbbdaab1ac9eaebbb0b0b3abadbbabb3f0b1acb9">[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
Penn Museum, and additional information on the determinations in this
notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in its
inventory or related records. The National Park Service is not
responsible for the determinations in this notice.
Abstract of Information Available
Human remains representing, at least, four individuals have been
identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
One individual (PM# 97-606-441) is identified as an adult male and
is represented by a cranium and mandible. Published information and
museum
[[Page 2144]]
records identify this individual as Muscogee and a ``Creek Warrior of
Alabama.'' At an unknown date, before 1839, the human remains were
obtained by Dr. Joseph Pancoast. Pancoast most likely obtained the
remains from an unknown third party since he could not be placed in
Alabama during the 1820s or 1830s. By 1839, the remains were sent to
Dr. Samuel G. Morton and stored at the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia (ANSP) (now the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel
University).
One individual (PM# 97-606-579) is identified as an adult male and
is represented by a cranium. Published information and museum records
identify this individual as ``Athlaha-Ficksa, a Muscogee, or Creek
Chief'' who died in Mobile, Alabama, in 1837 and whose remains were
obtained by Dr. Henry S. Rennolds. Dr. Rennolds was commissioned as an
Assistant Surgeon of the United States Navy and was stationed at the
Naval Hospital in Pensacola at the time. In 1837, Rennolds transferred
the human remains to Dr. Morton, and they were stored at the ANSP.
One individual (PM# 97-606-751) is identified as an adult female
and is represented by a cranium and mandible. Published information and
museum records identify this person as a ``Creek woman [from]
Georgia.'' By 1840, the remains were obtained by Dr. Joseph Walker.
Published information indicates that this Creek individual was from
Georgia. Available museum documents, archival records, and published
information do not reveal the specific circumstances surrounding
Walker's collection of the human remains. Walker likely obtained the
human remains sometime between 1838 and 1840 while serving in the U.S.
Army as U.S. Assistant Army Surgeon assigned to Fort Leavenworth in the
Missouri Territory from 1839-1841, before he was transferred to
Florida. By 1840, Walker transferred the human remains to Dr. Morton,
and they were stored at the ANSP.
One individual (PM# 97-606-1454) is identified as an adult female
and is represented by a cranium. Published information and museum
records identify this individual as Creek and indicate they were
removed from an unidentified location in western Arkansas by Dr. Samuel
W. Woodhouse. From 1849 to 1850, Woodhouse participated in the U.S.
Army Corps of Topographical Engineers survey of the Creek-Cherokee
boundary as a physician and naturalist at the recommendation of Dr.
Samuel G. Morton of the ANSP. In 1849, the survey party left
Washington, DC, for Fort Gibson, traveling to Ohio and through Arkansas
between May 1 and June 6. It is possible that Woodhouse obtained the
human remains sometime between May 29th and June 5th while traveling
through Arkansas by boat on the Arkansas River to Fort Smith. It is
also possible that Woodhouse obtained the human remains during the
survey expedition that mapped the Creek boundary (in what is today
Oklahoma) between June and October 1849. In 1850, Woodhouse transferred
the human remains to Morton, and they were stored at the ANSP.
Dr. Morton died in 1851, and in 1853, the ANSP purchased Morton's
collection, including the four human remains discussed in this report,
from Morton's estate. In 1966, Morton's collection was loaned to the
Penn Museum, and in 1997, Morton's collection, including these human
remains, was formally gifted to the Penn Museum. There is no known
presence of any potentially hazardous substances.
Cultural Affiliation
Based on the information available and the results of consultation,
cultural affiliation is clearly identified by the information available
about the human remains described in this notice.
Determinations
The Penn Museum has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of four individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> There is a connection between the human remains described
in this notice and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and The Muscogee
(Creek) Nation.
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains in this
notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified in this
notice under ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be submitted by:
1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian
organizations identified in this notice.
2. 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 an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with
cultural affiliation.
Repatriation of the human remains described in this notice to a
requestor may occur on or after February 17, 2026. If competing
requests for repatriation are received, the Penn Museum must determine
the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for
joint repatriation of the human remains are considered a single request
and not competing requests. The Penn Museum 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 10.10.
Dated: January 9, 2026.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2026-00859 Filed 1-15-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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