Notice of Inventory Completion: Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA, 56660 [2023-17780]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 159 (Friday, August 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 56660]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-17780]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036385; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, 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 Berkshire Museum 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 Hampden County, MA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after September 18, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Jason Vivori, Berkshire Museum, 39 South Street, Pittsfield, 
MA 01201, telephone (413) 443-7171 Ext. 341, 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 
Berkshire 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 inventory or related records held by the Berkshire 
Museum.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals were 
removed from Hampden County, MA. At an unknown time, the Berkshire 
Museum received human remains that had been collected by Professor Eben 
Horsford (1818-1893). Handwritten notes kept with the human remains 
indicate that they had washed out from a burial ground in Springfield/
Longmeadow. In 1995, an osteological report by Ann Marie Mires of the 
Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts concluded 
that the human remains (consisting of fragmentary cranial elements) 
belong to one adult and one adolescent. The 13 associated funerary 
objects are 10 pottery sherds (2005.3.365.1-9, 2012.7.103) and three 
stone tools (2023.8.1-3).

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, 
kinship, linguistic, expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Berkshire Museum has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 13 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 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 September 18, 2023. 
If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Berkshire 
Museum 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 Berkshire 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 10.9, Sec.  
10.10, and Sec.  10.14.

    Dated: August 9, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-17780 Filed 8-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P