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###### Department of the Interior

###### National Park Service

          - [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037084; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

# AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

# ACTION:

Notice.

# SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA) intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural items were removed from Oconee County, SC.

# DATES:

Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on or after January 18, 2024.

# ADDRESSES:

                        Nina Schreiner, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA), College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina, 1321 Pendleton Street, Columbia, SC 29208, email                         *Schreinn@email.sc.edu.*

# 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 SCIAA. 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 summary or related records held by the SCIAA.

## Description

                    In 1957, the two cultural items were removed from site 38OC55, Rock Cairn,                           ( print page 87796)                        Oconee County, SC, by Mr. Marshall W. Williams. Williams transferred the items to SCIAA in 1970. The two unassociated funerary objects are one lot metal objects and one lot mixed material beads.                

In 1970, an additional cultural item was removed from the same site, 38OC55, by Mr. John D. Combes of SCIAA, during the Keowee Toxaway Reservoir salvage excavations conducted by SCIAA for Duke Power Company of Charlotte, NC. The one unassociated funerary object is one lot of ceramic objects.

## Cultural Affiliation

The cultural items 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: anthropological information, archeological information, and historical information.

## Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, the SCIAA has determined that:
    - The three 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.
    - There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Cherokee Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma.

## Requests for Repatriation

                    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in                     **ADDRESSES**                    . Requests for repatriation may be submitted by 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 cultural items in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after January 18, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the SCIAA must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the cultural items are considered a single request and not competing requests. The SCIAA 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 10.8, 10.10, and 10.14.                

Dated: December 8, 2023.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program. 

[FR Doc. 2023-27792 Filed 12-18-23; 8:45 am]

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