Notice of Inventory Completion: Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, 65665-65666 [2024-17874]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 155 (Monday, August 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65665-65666]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-17874]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0038461; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Wesleyan University, Middletown, 
CT

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Wesleyan University 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.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after September 11, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Wendi Field Murray, Wesleyan University, 265 Church Street, 
Exley Science Building (Archaeology & Anthropology Collection), 
Middletown, CT 06459, telephone (860) 685-2085, 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 
Wesleyan University and additional information on the determinations in 
this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in its 
inventory or related records. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

Portland, Middlesex County, CT

    Human remains representing at least nine individuals have been 
identified. The one associated funerary object is a string of blue and 
black beads. Based on records, their storage organization when found, 
and tribal consultation, all are presumed to originate in the Middlesex 
County/Portland/Indian Hill area.
    According to Wesleyan's catalog records, some of these individuals' 
remains were likely taken from the property of Frank Gladwin on June 
14th, 1899 while digging a trench for a water pipe in the dooryard of 
his residence, and would have come into Wesleyan's collection with a 
large donation from the estate of local collector Charles H. Neff in 
the late 1920s or early 1930s. Charles Neff was a prolific local 
collector who did his collecting from the mid-19th century through the 
early 20th century. Neff's looting of Native American graves in the 
area is historically documented in archives and his own personal 
journal, and Indian Hill in Portland was known to contain Native 
American (Wangunk) burials that were frequently disturbed. Indian Hill 
is historically documented to have been a burial place for the Wangunk 
people, who lived in the area until ca. 1765.
    Attribution of the remains to Neff's collecting at Indian Hill is 
based upon the fact that (1) Wesleyan received a large (but poorly 
inventoried) donation of local archaeological materials from Neff in 
the 20th century, (2) his collecting often included human remains, and 
(3) a description of the Gladwin property discovery in Neff's journal 
listed the number of individuals and skeletal elements present that 
correspond to some of the remains from CT that are currently held by 
Wesleyan.
    The beads likely correspond to the string of beads Neff describes 
in his collecting journal (1927) in which he describes the remains of a 
Native American woman that had been exposed after heavy rains on the 
property of George Conklin. A string of beads was reportedly found 
wrapped several times around her arm, some of which he kept for his 
collection.

Griffin Site (6NL31), Old Lyme, CT

    Human remains representing, at least, one individual have been 
identified. The 58 lots of associated funerary objects comprise 
archaeological debris, stone bifaces (complete and broken), Mansion Inn 
type projectile points (complete and broken), unidentified projectile 
points (complete and broken), stemmed projectile points, notched 
projectile points, projectile point fragments, oblong or rod-shaped 
groundstone tools, smooth/flat groundstone implements (complete and 
broken), miscellaneous groundstone fragments, stone flakes, 
unidentified stone cobbles and fragments, quartz cobble fragments, 
chert cobble fragments, sandstone fragments, sandstone tools, stone 
axes (complete and broken), stone adzes (complete and broken), stone 
pestles (complete and broken), stone pestle fragments, grooved stone 
tools (complete and broken), hammerstones (complete and broken), 
limonite raw material, hematite raw material, stone scrapers, stone 
knife/blades, unspecified chipped stone tools (complete and broken), 
stone drills (complete and broken), stone drill fragments, burned nuts, 
seeds, and botanicals, burned animal bone fragments, fire-cracked rock, 
charcoal/ash, one teardrop-shaped rubbing stone, one black, shiny stone 
object, one chunk of burned stone, one complete steatite vessel, one 
broken steatite vessel, one pumice-like stone tool, one drilled 
groundstone tool, one micaceous stone fragment, one pointed groundstone 
tool, and one micaceous groundstone tool.
    The human remains and funerary objects were excavated from the 
Griffin Site in Old Lyme, CT by a Wesleyan graduate student in 1979. 
Interpreted as a Terminal Archaic (3500 B.P) cremation site 
(Susquehanna Tradition), it was accidentally discovered during 
construction work on the property owner's home in 1975 which prompted 
the salvage excavation. The property owner donated the collection to 
Wesleyan in 1980, after which the objects were cataloged, refit, 
photographed, and analyzed for the completion of a master's thesis. 
Many objects show evidence of spalling, breakage, and degradation by 
extreme heat or fire. Features were interpreted as receptacles for 
cremated remains and objects. Fragments of human remains (human 
metatarsal and phalanx; and possibly two human teeth) were identified 
in ``Feature F'' in the site report. All features had bone fragments 
incorporated into the ash and charcoal, though the severity of the heat 
exposure made most of them unidentifiable.

Niantic, CT (New London County)

    Human remains representing, at least, one individual have been 
identified. The remains were taken from an unknown location in Niantic, 
CT by an unknown collector some time prior to 1972. They were donated 
to Wesleyan in 1972 by Dr. Leonard M. Lasser of Windsor, CT. No 
associated funerary objects are present.

Clinton, CT

    Human remains representing, at least, one individual have been 
identified. The four associated funerary objects are quartz stone 
tools. The dates of their collection, acquisition, or provenance are 
unknown. Some of the remains are labeled ``Clinton'' while others are 
labeled ``Sebonac'' and ``BUR II.'' All appear to be from the same male 
individual. ``Sebonac'' likely refers to the Sebonac focus of the Late 
Woodland period (ca. AD 900-1500), an archaeological cultural 
designation

[[Page 65666]]

attributed to parts of Long Island and southern Connecticut.
    The presence of potentially hazardous substances (i.e., pesticide 
residues) on all of the above-mentioned remains is unknown. In 2021, 
Wesleyan University discovered the presence of pesticide residue 
(arsenic) on one organic object from Samoa that was transferred from 
the Smithsonian in the 19th century, as well as several taxidermy 
specimens. While pesticides were not typically applied to human 
skeletal remains or stone objects, they were managed together with 
organic objects in a large ethnographic teaching collection, making 
cross-contamination a possibility.
    There is one documented instance of pest fumigation relating to the 
collections that dates to 1972-1973. This was to treat a silverfish 
infestation in underground storage rooms that held the museum's objects 
after it closed. The proposal was for the application of 
dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) to the floors, the placement of 
open containers of paradichlorobenzene (PDB) around the room, and the 
placement of a mildew-retarding insecticide inside the wraps of museum 
specimens. The specific contents of the room in which the chemicals 
were applied, and to what extent they were shielded from them, is 
unknown.

Cultural Affiliation

    Based on the information available and the results of consultation, 
cultural affiliation is reasonably identified by the geographical 
location of the human remains and associated funerary objects described 
in this notice.

Determinations

    Wesleyan University has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 12 individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 63 objects described in this notice are reasonably 
believed to have been placed intentionally with or near individual 
human remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite 
or ceremony.
     There is a connection between the human remains and 
associated funerary objects described in this notice and the 
Mashantucket Pequot Indian Tribe and the Mohegan Tribe of Indians of 
Connecticut.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
authorized representative identified in this notice under 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 an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with 
cultural affiliation.
    Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after September 
11, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, Wesleyan 
University 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. Wesleyan University is responsible for sending a 
copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.

    Dated: August 1, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-17874 Filed 8-9-24; 8:45 am]
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