2023-28189. Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Boston Children's Museum, Boston, MA

AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Boston Children's Museum 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 the Southeastern United States.

DATES:

Repatriation of the cultural item in this notice may occur on or after January 22, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

Melissa Higgins, Boston Children's Museum, 308 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210, 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 Boston Children's Museum. 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 Boston Children's Museum.

Description

The one cultural item was removed from the Southeastern United States. The one unassociated funerary object is a clay bowl, unglazed, with handles measuring height 5″, width 7.75″, length 9″. The bowl has a round base; widest at middle, then narrows slightly towards rim; which is flared with two flat handles on opposite sides of the rim. Currently there is a large chip at the edge of one handle, a crack radiating from the base, a small hole just below the widest part of the bowl at the midpoint between two handles, and an adhesive label with the number “54” on the neck.

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: geographical information and expert opinion.

Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, Boston Children's Museum has determined that:

• 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.
• There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the cultural item and The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

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 January 22, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, Boston Children's Museum must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the cultural item are considered a single request and not competing requests. Boston Children's 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 10.8, 10.10, and 10.14.

Dated: December 13, 2023.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.