Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 205 / Wednesday, October 25, 2023 / Notices 73369 

47, 19–MD–158) in Middlesex County, 

MA, two individuals were removed 

(previously identified as one 

individual). The 40 funerary objects 

(previously identified as 0 associated 

funerary objects) are two ceramic 

sherds; five lots consisting of lithics; 

one lot consisting of bone fragments; 

four lots consisting of lithic debitage; 

three lots consisting of unmodified 

stone; one lot consisting of bone 

fragments, ceramic sherds and charcoal; 

one lot consisting of ground stone 

objects, possible hammerstones, lithic 

flakes/debitage, quartz flakes, ceramic 

sherds, bone fragments, and unmodified 

stones; 17 lots consisting of lithics, 

debitage, ceramic sherds, charcoal, soil, 

and ground stone tools; one lot 

consisting of quartz flakes, flake shatter, 

ground stone objects, and soil; one lot 

consisting of a quartz scraper, flake 

shatter, and unmodified stones; and four 

soil samples. 

From the Call Site (19–MD–37) in 

Middlesex County, MA, 69 funerary 

objects are identified as associated with 

the remains of the two individuals 

identified in the previous notice 

(previously, 66 associated funerary 

objects were identified). These 

associated funerary objects are two 

chipped stone projectile points, two 

pottery sherds, six burned animal bone 

fragments, two small flat pebbles, one 

charcoal sample, 43 chipped stone 

flakes, 10 unmodified rocks, and three 

soil samples. 

Determinations (as Amended) 

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its 

implementing regulations, and after 

consultation with the appropriate 

Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 

organizations, the Robert S. Peabody 

Institute of Archaeology has determined 

that: 

• The human remains represent the 

physical remains of 16 individuals of 

Native American ancestry. 

• The 186 objects described in this 

amended notice 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. 

• There is a relationship of shared 

group identity that can be reasonably 

traced between the human remains and 

associated funerary objects described in 

this notice and the Mashpee 

Wampanoag Tribe, and the Wampanoag 

Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). 

Requests for Repatriation 

Written requests for repatriation of the 

human remains and associated funerary 

objects in this notice must be sent to the 

Responsible Official identified in 

ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation 

may be submitted by: 

1. Any one or more of the Indian 

Tribes identified in this notice and, if 

joined to a request from one or more of 

the Indian Tribes, the Assonet Band of 

the Wampanoag Nation, a non-federally 

recognized Indian group. 

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 November 24, 2023. If competing 

requests for repatriation are received, 

the Robert S. Peabody Institute of 

Archaeology 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 Robert S. 

Peabody Institute of Archaeology is 

responsible for sending a copy of this 

notice to the Indian Tribes identified in 

this notice. 

Authority: Native American Graves 

Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 

U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing 

regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, 10.10, 10.13, 

and 10.14. 

Dated: October 18, 2023. 

Melanie O’Brien, 

Manager, National NAGPRA Program. 

[FR Doc. 2023–23548 Filed 10–24–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4312–52–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

National Park Service 

[NPS–WASO–NAGPRA–NPS0036821; 

PPWOCRADN0–PCU00RP14.R50000] 

Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. 

Department of the Interior, Bureau of 

Land Management, Anchorage, AK 

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native 

American Graves Protection and 

Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the U.S. 

Department of the Interior, Bureau of 

Land Management (BLM Alaska) 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. The human 

remains and associated funerary objects 

were removed from the Iyatayet site on 

the northwestern shore of Cape Denbigh 

and northwest of Shaktoolik, in the 

Nome Census Area, AK. 

DATES: Repatriation of the human 

remains and associated funerary objects 

in this notice may occur on or after 

November 24, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: Robert E. King, Bureau of 

Land Management, 222 W 7th Avenue, 

#13, Anchorage, AK 99513, telephone 

(907) 271–5510, email r2king@blm.gov. 

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 BLM Alaska. The 

National Park Service is not responsible 

for the determinations in this notice. 

Additional information on the 

determinations in this notice, including 

the results of consultation, can be found 

in the inventory or related records held 

by BLM Alaska. 

Description 

Human remains representing, at 

minimum, one individual were removed 

from the Iyatayet site on the 

northwestern shore of Cape Denbigh 

and northwest of Shaktoolik, AK. The 

human remains, which are estimated to 

be at least 800 years old, were removed 

by an unknown party, probably in the 

1950s or 1960s, and were placed in the 

collection of the Haffenreffer Museum of 

Anthropology at Brown University in 

Providence, RI. (The museum’s 

sponsorship of multiple expeditions to 

Alaska in the mid-20th century might 

account for its custody of these human 

remains.) The one associated funerary 

object is one lot consisting of 

unidentified faunal remains. 

Cultural Affiliation 

The human remains in this notice are 

connected to one or more identifiable 

earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or 

cultures. There is a relationship of 

shared group identity between the 

identifiable earlier groups, tribes, 

peoples, or cultures and one or more 

Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 

organizations. The following types of 

information were used to reasonably 

trace the relationship: archeological and 

oral traditional. 

Determinations 

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its 

implementing regulations, and after 

consultation with the appropriate 

Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 

organizations, BLM Alaska has 

determined that: 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
73370 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 205 / Wednesday, October 25, 2023 / Notices 

• The human remains described in 

this notice represent the physical 

remains of one individual of Native 

American ancestry. 

• The one object described in this 

notice is 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. 

• There is a relationship of shared 

group identity that can be reasonably 

traced between the human remains and 

associated funerary objects described in 

this notice and the Native Village of 

Shaktoolik. 

Requests for Repatriation 

Written requests for repatriation of the 

human remains and associated funerary 

objects in this notice must be sent to the 

Responsible Official identified in 

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 November 24, 2023. If competing 

requests for repatriation are received, 

BLM Alaska 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. BLM Alaska is 

responsible for sending a copy of this 

notice to the Indian Tribe identified in 

this notice. 

(Authority: Native American Graves 

Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 

3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 

CFR 10.9, 10.10, and 10.14.) 

Dated: October 18, 2023. 

Melanie O’Brien, 

Manager, National NAGPRA Program. 

[FR Doc. 2023–23540 Filed 10–24–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4312–52–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

National Park Service 

[NPS–WASO–NAGPRA–NPS0036526; 

PPWOCRADN0–PCU00RP14.R50000] 

Notice of Inventory Completion: 

Eastern California Museum, 

Independence, CA 

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native 

American Graves Protection and 

Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Eastern 

California Museum (ECM) has 

completed an inventory of human 

remains and has determined that there 

is a cultural affiliation between the 

human remains and Indian Tribes or 

Native Hawaiian organizations in this 

notice. The human remains were 

removed from Inyo County, CA. 

DATES: Repatriation of the human 

remains in this notice may occur on or 

after November 24, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: Shawn E. Lum, Eastern 

California Museum, 155 Grant Street, 

P.O. Box 206, Independence, CA 93526, 

telephone (760) 878–0258, email 

ecmuseum@inyocounty.us. 

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 Eastern California 

Museum. The National Park Service is 

not responsible for the determinations 

in this notice. Additional information 

on the determinations in this notice, 

including the results of consultation, 

can be found in the inventory or related 

records held by Eastern California 

Museum. 

Description 

Human remains representing, at 

minimum, one individual were removed 

from Inyo County, CA. The human 

remains were found on November 24, 

1962, at an Indian campsite near Goose 

Lake and northeast of Independence, in 

the Owens Valley. These human 

remains (Accession #A1942/NL1/NL2) 

were loaned to ECM in 1968. In 2022, 

with donor permission, the loan was 

converted to a gift, with the 

understanding that ECM would work to 

respectfully repatriate the human 

remains. 

Additional statement from Sean 

Scruggs: Theft, collections, and 

destruction of ancestral lands are the 

reasons repatriation by tribal people is 

necessary by people like myself, Sean 

Scruggs, Tribal Historical Preservation 

Officer for the Fort Independence Indian 

Reservation. The act of repatriation is 

honorable itself, much like that of the 

United States military when fallen 

soldiers are returned home from foreign 

lands. Through repatriation, tribal 

people work to restore traditional 

homelands by returning family members 

home to give them the peace and honor 

they so richly deserve. 

Tribal people have no ceremony for 

re-burials. Native Americans did not 

collect and desecrate burial sites, they 

were left intact for the natural world as 

our Creator intended. The act of 

repatriation puts me, and others, at 

spiritual, emotional, and physical risk 

by attempting to return these family 

members where they belong. Entrusted 

not only with their physical remains, 

but their spirit as well—tribal people get 

only one chance help a person complete 

their journey home. 

On May 1, 2023, a NAGPRA 

osteologist confirmed at least two of 

three facts that I ‘‘felt’’ prior to the 

assessment of the man I am choosing to 

care for. I connected with the individual 

and felt that he was a man around my 

age (40–50) and that he experienced 

something traumatic. He and I both 

share trauma in our lives. As such, my 

intuition tells me that he was a warrior 

and possibly a Chief among our people. 

The expert confirmed that the person is 

a male about 45 years old who had fire 

effects consistent with a cremation that 

was likely interrupted. Later, I had 

visions through this man’s eyes as he 

went through the cremation whereby, I 

could feel the heat of the fire and see the 

flames of the fire through his eyes. I can 

feel his emotional pain and sorrow with 

visions of his wife and young daughter 

standing in the light of the fire as his 

body burned. Additionally, I felt that 

the cremation had either been stopped 

and or covered for fear of being 

discovered by settlers, making this event 

extremely traumatic and likely around 

the 1850’s. 

In Payahuunadu ̈ or the Land of 

Flowing Water (the Owens Valley), 

which is the place of our Creation, 

cremations and burial methods changed 

dramatically as a result of 

extermination, forced removal, creation 

of reservations, and assimilation. This 

extreme generational trauma and 

cultural disruption still creates dramatic 

shifts in the ability of our people to pass 

from this life to the next. Native 

Americans were not recognized as 

citizens until June 2, 1924. To me, the 

only rights that our ancestors have are 

those few afforded by NAGPRA which 

still doesn’t recognize their basic right 

to rest in peace on their ancestral 

homes. The extraordinary efforts of 


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