Notice of Inventory Completion: Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Andover MA, 75662 [2022-26797]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 236 (Friday, December 9, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 75662]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-26797]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

 [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0034976; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Robert S. Peabody Institute of 
Archaeology, Andover MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Robert S. Peabody Institute of 
Archaeology (RSPI) has completed an inventory of human remains and 
associated funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural 
affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects 
and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The 
human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from 
Jefferson County, MS.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after January 9, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Ryan J. Wheeler, Robert S. Peabody Institute of 
Archaeology, Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover, MA 01810, 
telephone (978) 749-4490, email [email protected].

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 
RSPI. 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 inventory or related records held by the RSPI.

Description

    In February of 1924, human remains representing, at minimum, two 
individuals were removed from Jefferson County, MS. Warren K. 
Moorehead, working under the auspices of the Department of Archaeology 
at Phillips Academy (now the RSPI), removed these human remains from 
Mounds C and/or D at Ferguson Mounds, 22JE500, also known as Feltus 
Mounds and the Judge Truly site. (In March of 1924, Moorehead 
transferred additional human remains and funerary objects from this 
site to Ale[scaron] Hrdli[ccaron]ka at what is now the Smithsonian 
Institution's National Museum of Natural History.) The Ferguson Mounds 
date to the Coles Creek period (700-1,100 CE). The fragmentary human 
remains belong to two adult males. No known individuals were 
identified. The 573 associated funerary objects are 123 bifaces, seven 
faunal remains, one abrading stone, five chunks of ash, one bag of ashy 
bone matrix, 27 celts, nine fragments of daub, one effigy figurine 
fragment, one hammerstone, 110 points, 20 fragments of shatter, eight 
edge tools, 11 knives, 10 flakes, five perforators, one scraper, one 
axe, five unfinished objects, nine fragments of debitage, 213 ceramic 
sherds, one pigment stone, one pipe fragment, and three plummets.

Cultural Affiliation

    The human remains and associated funerary objects 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, archeological, biological, historical, 
linguistic, other relevant 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 RSPI has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 573 objects described in this notice 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects described in this notice and The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and 
The Muscogee (Creek) Nation.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation 
may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations identified in this notice.
    2. 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 human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after January 9, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the RSPI must 
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. 
Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing 
requests. The RSPI is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to 
the Indian Tribes identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: November 30, 2022.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2022-26797 Filed 12-8-22; 8:45 am]
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