[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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