2023-18821. Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Field Museum, Chicago, IL

AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

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

DATES:

Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on or after October 2, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

Helen Robbins, Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605–2496, 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 Field 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 the Field Museum.

Description

The 25 cultural items listed in this notice were removed from Kings County, CA. In May and June of 1901, Dr. John Hudson collected the cultural items on behalf of the Field Museum during a two-year expedition among the Native populations of California. That same year, the Field Museum accessioned these cultural items. Two of the cultural items are unassociated funerary objects. They are one lot consisting of shells and wampum, and one glass bead necklace. Nine of the cultural items are sacred objects. They are one dance clapper, one headdress, one roll of eagle down, one head net, one skirt, one hand wand, one bunch of eagle down, one lot consisting of white paint, and one roll of jay feathers. Fourteen of the cultural items are objects of cultural patrimony. They are one wooden mortar, two stone mortars, three sifting trays, one cooking basket, one small basket, one digging stick, one bone awl, one set of quiver and arrows, and three drills.

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, geographical, historical, oral traditional, and expert opinion.

Determinations

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

• Two of the 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.
• Nine of the cultural items described above are specific ceremonial objects needed by traditional Native American religious leaders for the practice of traditional Native American religions by their present-day adherents.
• Fourteen of the cultural items described above have ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native American group or culture itself, rather than property owned by an individual.
• There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California.

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 October 2, 2023. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Field Museum 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 Field Museum is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribe 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: August 23, 2023.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.