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###### Department of the Interior

###### National Park Service

          - [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037127; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

# AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

# ACTION:

Notice.

# SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Filson Historical Society 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 Essex County, VA.

# DATES:

Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on or after January 22, 2024.

# ADDRESSES:

                        Kelly Hyberger, Filson Historical Society, 1310 South Third Street, Louisville, KY 40208, telephone (502) 635-5083, email                         *khyberger@filsonhistorical.org.*

# 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 Filson Historical Society. 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 Filson Historical Society.

## Description

The one unassociated funerary object was removed from Essex County, VA. On July 21, 1936, construction workers uncovered a Native American grave on the grounds of the county courthouse in Rappahannock, Essex County, VA. Rogers Clark Ballard Thruston collected a stone grooved ax from the burial; he did not take possession of the ancestral remains. Thruston donated the ax to the Filson Historical Society on July 26, 1936. The one unassociated funerary object is a grooved stone ax.

## 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                           ( print page 88649)                        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: geographical information, historical information, and expert opinion.                

## Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, the Filson Historical Society has determined that:
    - The one cultural item described above 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 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 Rappahannock Tribe, Inc.

## 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 22, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Filson Historical Society 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 Filson Historical Society 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 13, 2023.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.

[FR Doc. 2023-28182 Filed 12-21-23; 8:45 am]

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