[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 164 (Wednesday, August 25, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 52364]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-21191]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Memphis Pink 
Palace Museum, Memphis, TN

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 Memphis Pink 
Palace Museum, Memphis, TN, 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 responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3). The 
determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the cultural 
items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    The 92 unassociated funerary objects are whole and restored ceramic 
vessels from the Bradley site (3CT7), Crittenden County, AR. The 
collection was acquired as a donation from a private individual in 
1958.
    The Bradley site was a village or town of the late Mississippian 
and proto-historic periods, located in Crittenden County, northeast 
Arkansas. Archeological evidence indicates that the site was occupied 
during the Nodena phase (A.D. 1350-1650). Funerary objects removed from 
the site have been dated to the period from A.D. 1350-1650. The Bradley 
site is thought to be the capital of ``Pacaha'' identified in the 
DeSoto chronicles. Historical documentation indicates that this site 
dates into the 17th century and close to the time when the Quapaw Tribe 
was documented by early Europeans. Linguistic evidence indicates a 
possible link between ``Capaha'' (a.k.a. Pacaha) in a Spanish account, 
and a late 17th century Quapaw Indian village name ``Kappah'' or 
``Kappa.'' French maps and documents (A.D. 1673-1720), indicate that 
only the Quapaw had villages in this area of eastern Arkansas. Oral 
traditional evidence indicates that the Quapaw had a continuous 
presence in the area, including hunting lands, and that burial 
practices such as placement of food with the dead continues to be an 
important burial ritual.
    Archeological, historical and ethnographic sources indicate that 
the type of pottery found at the Bradley site was produced by the 
Quapaw (Morse 1992). Descendants of the Quapaw are members of the 
Quapaw Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma. Finally, the Quapaw Tribe of 
Indians, Oklahoma, through the NAGPRA process, have previously been 
determined to be culturally affiliated with the Bradley site and have 
repatriated Native American human remains and associated funerary 
objects from the site.
    Officials of the Memphis Pink Palace Museum have determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 92 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 the Memphis Pink Palace Museum also have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship 
of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary objects and the Quapaw Tribe of Indians, 
Oklahoma.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Louella Weaver, Memphis Pink Palace Museum, 3050 Central Ave., 
Memphis, TN 38111, telephone (901) 320-6322, before September 24, 2010. 
Repatriation of the unassociated funerary objects to the Quapaw Tribe 
of Indians, Oklahoma, may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    The Memphis Pink Palace Museum is responsible for notifying the 
Quapaw Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma, that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 19, 2010
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2010-21191 Filed 8-24-10; 8:45 am]
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