Notice of Inventory Completion: Robbins Museum of Archaeology, Middleborough, MA, 40858 [2023-13299]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 119 (Thursday, June 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 40858]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13299]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036061; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Robbins Museum of Archaeology, 
Middleborough, 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 Robbins Museum of Archaeology 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 Hillsborough County, FL.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after July 24, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Victor Mastone, Robbins Museum of Archaeology, 17 Jackson 
Street, Middleborough, MA 02346, telephone (508) 947-9005, 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 
Robbins Museum of Archaeology. 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 Robbins Museum of Archaeology.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed 
from an unknown locality in Tampa, Hillsborough County, FL. In December 
2013, the ancestral remains and associated funerary objects were left 
at the Robbins Museum of Archaeology. A handwritten note with the 
individual and the items reads, ``Taken from Indians. Tampa. Feb 4th, 
1886.'' Museum personnel recorded that these remains and funerary items 
had been found together in a barn in Kingston, Massachusetts. The 
fragmentary human remains most likely belong to an older adult male. No 
known individual was identified. The five associated funerary objects 
are one red pebble, one fossilized animal vertebra, one lot consisting 
of tarpon scales, one lot consisting of mineralized fossils, and one 
lot consisting of faunal remains.

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, 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 Robbins Museum of Archaeology has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
     The five 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 Miccosukee Tribe of Indians; 
Seminole Tribe of Florida; and The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.

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 July 24, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the Robbins Museum of 
Archaeology 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 Robbins Museum of Archaeology 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: June 14, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-13299 Filed 6-21-23; 8:45 am]
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