Notice of Inventory Completion: Moravian Historical Society, Nazareth, PA, 17015 [2023-05729]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 21, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 17015]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05729]



[[Page 17015]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035483; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Moravian Historical Society, 
Nazareth, PA

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 Moravian Historical Society 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 Tuscarawas County, OH.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after April 20, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Farrar Lannon, Moravian Historical Society, 214 E Center 
Street, Nazareth, PA 18064, telephone (610) 759-5070, 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 
Moravian Historical Society. 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 Moravian Historical Society.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals were 
removed from Tuscarawas County, OH. Between 1850 and 1880, the human 
remains were removed from the former site of the village of 
Gnadenhutten. In 1782, ninety-six pacifist Moravian Christian Indians 
(primarily Lenape and Mohican) were massacred by U.S. militiamen from 
Pennsylvania at Gnadenhutten. After looting the homes, the militiamen 
burned the village. The killing field remained untouched for 17 years 
until 1799, when Moravian missionaries and Christian Indians visited 
the site, collected all the skeletal remains that they could find, and 
buried them in one mass grave. In 1857, a B. Roming donated a single 
proximal phalange to the Moravian Historical Society (MHS) bearing the 
inscription ``toe-bone of an Indian from Gnadenhutten, Ohio.'' In 1985, 
Mrs. John Weinlick donated a small, decorated box to MHS containing 
four bone fragments and pieces of burnt corn that had been collected 
from Gnadenhutten in 1872. No known individuals were identified. The 60 
associated funerary objects are the pieces of burnt corn.

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: geographical and historical.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Moravian Historical Society has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 60 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 Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; 
Delaware Tribe of Indians; and the Stockbridge Munsee Community, 
Wisconsin.

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 April 20, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the Moravian 
Historical Society 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 Moravian Historical Society 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: March 15, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-05729 Filed 3-20-23; 8:45 am]
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