[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 4 (Thursday, January 6, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 794-795]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[2253-65]
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of
the Interior, National Park Service, Natchez Trace Parkway, Tupelo, MS
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3005, of the intent
to repatriate cultural items in the possession of the U.S. Department
of the Interior, National Park Service, Natchez Trace Parkway, Tupelo,
MS, that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects under 25
U.S.C. 3001.
This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's
administrative
[[Page 795]]
responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3). The determinations
in this notice are the sole responsibility of the Superintendent,
Natchez Trace Parkway, Tupelo, MS.
In 1951, unassociated funerary objects were removed from the Mangum
site, Claiborne County, MS, during authorized National Park Service
survey and excavation projects. The whereabouts of the human remains is
unknown. The 34 unassociated funerary objects are 6 ceramic vessel
fragments, 1 ceramic jar, 4 projectile points, 6 shell ornaments, 2
shells, 1 stone tool, 1 stone artifact, 1 polished stone, 2 pieces of
petrified wood, 2 bone artifacts, 1 worked antler, 2 discoidals, 3
cupreous metal fragments and 2 soil/shell samples. The Mangum site is a
large hilltop cemetery located in Claiborne County, MS. Objects
recovered from the burials indicate that the site was in use during the
Mississippian period (A.D. 1000-1650). In 1540, the De Soto expedition
likely encountered the Taensa people in the vicinity of the Mangum
site. In 1682, the de La Salle expedition documented the Taensa and
Tunica in the same area. In 1706, the Taensa were driven from the area,
migrating first to Bayogula, and then to Mobile, where they may have
settled with the Choctaw. In 1764, the Taensa again moved, first to the
Red River in south Louisiana, and finally to the Bayou Boeuf area where
they lived with the Chitimacha. Representatives of the Chitimacha Tribe
of Louisiana have identified similarities between the burial practices
observed at the Mangum site and those of the Chitimacha. Historical
documentation also indicates that the Tunica buried individuals in
hilltop cemeteries in open country, matching the burial practice
observed on the Mangum site. Historical documentation indicates that
some Taensa may have married into the Alabama tribe, the descendants of
whom now constitute the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas and the
Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma.
Officials of Natchez Trace Parkway have determined, pursuant to 25
U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), that the 34 cultural items described 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 and are believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have
been removed from a specific burial site of a Native American
individual. Officials of Natchez Trace Parkway also have determined,
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), that there is a relationship of shared
group identity that can be reasonably traced between the unassociated
funerary objects and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas; Alabama-
Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana; Choctaw
Nation of Oklahoma; Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, Louisiana;
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi; and Tunica-Biloxi
Indian Tribe of Louisiana.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should
contact Cameron H. Sholly, Superintendent, Natchez Trace Parkway, 2680
Natchez Trace Parkway, Tupelo, MS 38803, telephone (662) 680-4005,
before February 7, 2011. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary
objects to the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas; Alabama-Quassarte
Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana; Choctaw Nation of
Oklahoma; Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, Louisiana; Mississippi Band of
Choctaw Indians, Mississippi; and Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of
Louisiana, may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come
forward.
Natchez Trace Parkway is responsible for notifying the Absentee-
Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of
Texas; Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Cherokee Nation,
Oklahoma; Chickasaw Nation, Oklahoma; Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana;
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians of North
Carolina; Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Jena Band of Choctaw
Indians, Louisiana; Kialegee Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Miccosukee Tribe of
Indians of Florida; Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, Mississippi;
Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Oklahoma; Poarch Band of Creek Indians of
Alabama; Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; Seminole Tribe of Florida (Dania,
Big Cypress, Brighton, Hollywood & Tampa Reservations); Shawnee Tribe,
Oklahoma; Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Oklahoma; Tunica-Biloxi Indian
Tribe of Louisiana; and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in
Oklahoma, that this notice has been published.
Dated: December 28, 2010.
Sangita Chari,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-4 Filed 1-5-11; 8:45 am]
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