Notice of Inventory Completion: Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Andover, MA, 96671 [2024-28489]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 234 (Thursday, December 5, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Page 96671]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-28489]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0039153; 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, Phillips Academy (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.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after January 6, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Ryan J. Wheeler, RSPI, 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, and additional information on the determinations in this notice, 
including the results of consultation, can be found in the inventory or 
related records. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

    Human remains representing, at least, 21 individuals have been 
identified. The 144 associated funerary objects are two lots of beads, 
nine lots of stone bifaces, three lots of copper buttons, five lots of 
stone celts, nine lots of chipped stone, one lot of clay, one lot of 
copper objects, one lot stone flakes, three lots of game pieces, two 
lots of shell gorgets, four lots of ground stone objects, one lot 
knives, two lots of mixed ceramic, stone, and faunal remains, five lots 
of modified shell, one lot of pebbles, one lot of perforators, one lot 
of stone pestles, 25 lots of stone points and projectile points, one 
lot of stone scrapers, 12 lots of shell and shell fragments, 41 lots of 
ceramic sherds, one lot of stone balls, one lot of unmodified shells, 
and 12 lots of ceramic vessels. In 1903, Warren K. Moorehead, curator 
of the RSPI (then known as the Department of Archaeology, Phillips 
Academy) disturbed burials at a large site on the farm of James R. 
Willis about 4 miles south of Hopkinsville, Christian County, KY. 
Moorehead removed remains and funerary belongings from at least 100 
graves; Moorehead and other RSPI personnel transferred individuals to 
other institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution's National 
Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and 
Ethnology, Harvard University. Ceramics and other features indicate the 
site dates to the late Mississippian Tinsley Hill phase, a subphase of 
the Angel Phase. RSPI personnel were unable to locate specific 
information about the presence of any potentially hazardous substances 
used to treat any of the human remains or associated funerary objects. 
Additional human remains and associated funerary objects from 
Moorehead's 1903 disturbance are reported by the Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University in a separate Notice.

Cultural Affiliation

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

Determinations

    The RSPI has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 21 individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 144 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 Absentee-
Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Cherokee Nation; Eastern Band of 
Cherokee Indians; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Quapaw Nation; 
Shawnee Tribe; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; The Osage Nation; and the 
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

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 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 6, 2025. 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 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: November 22, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-28489 Filed 12-4-24; 8:45 am]
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