Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst College, Amherst, MA, 6538-6539 [2015-02212]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 24 (Thursday, February 5, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6538-6539]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02212]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-17330; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Beneski Museum of 
Natural History, Amherst College, Amherst, MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst College 
(formerly the Pratt Museum of Natural History), in consultation with 
the appropriate Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has 
determined that the cultural items listed in this notice meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or 
representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items 
should submit a written request to the Beneski Museum of Natural 
History, Amherst College. If no additional claimants come forward, 
transfer of control of the cultural items to the lineal descendants, 
Indian tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice 
may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to the Beneski Museum of Natural 
History, Amherst College at the address in this notice by March 9, 
2015.

ADDRESSES: Tekla A. Harms, NAGPRA Coordinator, Beneski Museum of 
Natural History, Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002, telephone (413) 
542-2233, email taharms@amherst.edu.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 
U.S.C. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items under the 
control of the Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst College that 
meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects under 25 U.S.C. 
3001.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3). The 
determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native 
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

[[Page 6539]]

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    The Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst College (Beneski 
Museum) holds 118 cultural items that are documented to have been, or 
can reasonably be inferred to have been unassociated funerary objects 
that were removed from the state of Florida. These cultural items came 
to the Beneski Museum at several different times and through different 
avenues. Information on these cultural items comes solely from the 
hand-written ledger titled ``Catalogue of the Gilbert Museum of Indian 
Relics in Amherst College'' (here referred to as the ``Gilbert 
Catalogue'') which opens in approximately 1860 and closes in 
approximately 1915. In nearly all cases, the information in this record 
is limited to the state of origin of an item but may include a more 
specific locale and/or the name of the donor or collector. Cultural 
affinities are not given. Entries are not dated.
    The Beneski Museum holds 16 cultural items received from Mr. Warren 
K. Moorehead of Andover, MA, described as ``found in mounds in 
Florida.'' These cultural items are: One conch shell ladle; two shell 
spoons(?); three shell pendants or sinkers; three whorled implements 
from the spindle of large coiled shells; three large stone celts; and 
four clay pots, killed, fragmented, and reconstructed, including one 
from near Potter's Bar, St. George's Sound, Franklin County, FL and one 
from near Pearl Bayou, St. Andrew's Bay, Washington County, FL.
    The Beneski Museum holds 37 cultural items obtained from Clarence 
B. Moore of Philadelphia, most--if not all--received in 1872. These 
cultural items are: Five stone sinkers and two shell sinkers from 3 
miles east of Marco, Lee County, FL; one shell celt from near Marco, 
Lee County, FL; six stone sinkers or pendants, five shell sinkers or 
pendants, and five shell beads from Marco Island, Ten Thousand Islands, 
Lee County, FL; five stone sinkers or pendants, five whorled shell 
sinkers or pendants, one awl of whorled shell, one shell gorget, and 
one large shell ring from Addison's Key, near Marco, Lee County, FL. 
Items received from C.B. Moore have only Gilbert Catalogue collection 
numbers. They do not bear, nor is there a record of, any of Moore's 
original collection numbers or his field information; the only known 
provenience of these cultural items is what is given in the Gilbert 
Catalogue. Nevertheless, many of these cultural items are very similar 
to those illustrated in Moore's publications on his Florida excavations 
in which such cultural items are documented as having been removed from 
mounds.
    The Beneski Museum holds nine stone points purchased from Professor 
C.U. Shepard (of Amherst College) in 1877. They are listed only as 
having originated in Florida.
    The Beneski Museum holds ten cultural items from known and unknown 
sources, including one pottery fragment from East Florida obtained from 
a G.J. Lebasson; five fragments of pottery from Laurel Grove, St. Johns 
River, East Florida (Clay County, FL) from an unknown source; three 
fragments of pottery from Ormond, Florida (Volusia County, FL) from an 
unknown source; and one pottery pipe bowl from a ``shell heap'' in 
Ormond, FL (Volusia County, FL), donor or collector unknown.
    The Beneski Museum holds four stone tools identified as a point, a 
scraper, a drill, and a knife whose provenience is unknown, except that 
the Gilbert Catalogue indicates they are from Florida.
    The Beneski Museum holds 42 uncataloged shell beads that have been 
stored with cataloged shell beads and may have been obtained either 
from W.K. Moorehead or C.B. Moore.
    Multiple lines of evidence--guided by tribal consultations--
including geographic, oral tradition, historical, and aboriginal land 
claims, demonstrate a shared group identity between these 118 cultural 
items and the modern-day Miccosukee Tribe of Indians; Seminole Tribe of 
Florida (previously listed as the Seminole Tribe of Florida (Dania, Big 
Cypress, Brighton, Hollywood & Tampa Reservations)); and The Seminole 
Nation of Oklahoma. Consultation with the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians 
indicates that the kinds of cultural items listed here are 
traditionally associated with deceased individuals and would not have 
been otherwise discarded. The cultural items known to have been removed 
from mounds do not differ from those for which provenience is not as 
explicitly documented. It is reasonable to conclude that all 118 
cultural items listed here were intended to rest as funerary objects 
and were obtained from burial mounds.

Determinations Made by the Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst 
College

    Officials of the Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst College 
have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 118 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.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary objects and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Tekla Harms, NAGPRA Coordinator, Beneski 
Museum of Natural History, Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002, 
telephone (413) 542-2233, email taharms@amherst.edu, by March 9, 2015. 
After that date, if no additional claimants have come forward, transfer 
of control of the unassociated funerary objects to the Miccosukee Tribe 
of Indians may proceed.
    The Beneski Museum of Natural History, Amherst College is 
responsible for notifying representatives of the Caddo Nation of 
Oklahoma; Catawba Indian Nation (aka Catawba Tribe of South Carolina); 
Cherokee Nation; Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana; Coushatta Tribe of 
Louisiana; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Jena Band of Choctaw 
Indians; Miccosukee Tribe of Indians; Mississippi Band of Choctaw 
Indians; Seminole Tribe of Florida (previously listed as the Seminole 
Tribe of Florida (Dania, Big Cypress, Brighton, Hollywood & Tampa 
Reservations)); The Chickasaw Nation; The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; 
The Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; The Osage 
Nation (previously listed as the Osage Tribe); The Quapaw Tribe of 
Indians; The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; United Keetoowah Band of 
Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma; and the Wyandotte Nation that this notice 
has been published.

    Dated: December 16, 2014.
Melanie O'Brien,
Acting Program Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2015-02212 Filed 2-4-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P