FR Doc 05-16881
[Federal Register: August 25, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 164)]
[Notices]
[Page 49949]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25au05-73]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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This notice rescinds the Federal Register Notice of Intent to
Repatriate Cultural Items of December 10, 2003, FR Doc. 03-30567, page
68950. This notice changes the cultural items described in the
previously published notice from unassociated funerary objects to
associated funerary objects and adds the human remains representing a
minimum of one individual.
Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the
completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary
objects in the possession of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. The human remains and
associated funerary objects were removed from West Warwick, Kent
County, RI.
This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003 (d)(3).
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native
American human remains and associated funerary objects. The National
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology professional staff in consultation
with representatives of the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island.
In 1957, human remains representing a minimum of one individual
were removed from West Warwick, Kent County, RI, by Dave Straight. The
human remains were donated to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology by the Massachusetts Archaeological Society through Maurice
Robbins later that same year. The human remains were found during the
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology's inventory process after
the publication of the Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items on
December 10, 2003. The two associated funerary objects are one bag of
bark fragments and one box of brass kettle fragments.
This interment most likely dates to the post-contact period or
later (post A.D. 1500). Copper and brass kettles were European trade
items, and therefore support a post-contact temporal context for the
burial. In addition, museum documentation describes the human remains
as ``Narragansett.'' Such a specific attribution suggests that the
burial dates to the Historic period. The burial context indicates that
the burial was of a Native American. Oral tradition and historical
documentation indicate that West Warwick, RI, is within the aboriginal
and historic homeland of the Narragansett people during the Contact
period. The present-day tribe representing the Narragansett people is
the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island.
Officials of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology have
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains
listed above represent the physical remains of one individual of Native
American ancestry. Officials of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and
Ethnology also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A),
the two objects listed above 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. Lastly, officials of the
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology have determined that,
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is a relationship of shared group
identity that can be reasonably traced between the Native American
human remains and associated funerary objects and the Narragansett
Indian Tribe of Rhode Island.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary
objects should contact Patricia Capone, Repatriation Coordinator,
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 11
Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, telephone (617) 496-3702, before
September 26, 2005. Repatriation of the human remains and associated
funerary objects to the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island may
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is responsible for
notifying the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island that this
notice has been published.
Dated: July 22, 2005
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 05-16881 Filed 8-24-05; 8:45 am]
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