2024-00608. Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY

AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Longyear Museum of Anthropology (LMA) intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects or sacred objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural items were removed from Bay County, FL.

DATES:

Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on or after February 15, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

Kelsey Olney-Wall, Repatriation Manager, Longyear Museum of Anthropology, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346, telephone [phone], email [e-mail].

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 LMA. 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 LMA.

Description

The five cultural items were removed from Bay County, FL, in 1902 and 1918 by Clarence B. Moore, during his excavations of a small sand mound at Bear Point (By-5, now known as Strickland Point) and an unknown site in St. Andrews Bay. The four unassociated funerary objects are four potsherds (Catalog A55/Index 149; Catalog A56/Index 150). The one sacred object is a large shell dipper (Catalog A57/Index 151).

On January 25, 1955, after receiving Congressional authorization, the Smithsonian Institution officially transferred one lot of “Archaeological Specimens (duplicate) (Educational study collections),” to Colgate University's Sociology and Anthropology Professor John Longyear III, Curator of the LMA (previously the Anthropology Museum). The five cultural items from Bear Point Mound were accessioned into the LMA collection at this time.

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 information, geographical information, historical information, and expert opinion.

Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, the LMA has determined that:

• The four 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 a specific burial site of a Native American individual.
• The one cultural item described above is a specific ceremonial object needed by traditional Native American religious leaders for the practice of traditional Native American religions by their present-day adherents.
• There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Seminole Tribe of Florida and The Choctaw Nation of 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 February 15, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the LMA 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 LMA 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: January 9, 2024.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.