2023-24532. Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (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 were removed from Coahoma County, MS.

DATES:

Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on or after December 7, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

Patricia Capone, PMAE, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, 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 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 109 cultural items were removed from the Oliver Site (Mississippi State Site number 22Co503) in Coahoma County, MS, in 1901 and 1902 as part of a Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology expedition to Mississippi led by Charles Peabody and William C. Farabee. The 109 unassociated funerary objects include 105 objects that are present at the PMAE and four objects that are not currently located. The 105 present unassociated funerary objects are four brass beads, two glass beads, two quartz beads, 14 shell beads, one lot consisting of turquoise beads, two bone tools, one brass Clarksdale bell, four ceramic sherds, one lot consisting of ceramic sherds, 58 ceramic vessels or vessel fragments, 12 lots consisting of ceramic vessels or vessel fragments, two faunal bones, one mica fragment, and one perforated stone. The four objects not currently located are one lot consisting of shell beads, one lot consisting of ceramic vessels or vessel fragments, one lot consisting of lithic points, and one lot consisting of a perforated shell.

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: anthropological information, archeological information, biological information, folklore, geographical information, historical information, kinship, linguistics, oral tradition, other relevant information, or expert opinion.

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:

• The 109 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.
• There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Quapaw Nation.

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 December 7, 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 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 27, 2023.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.