[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 168 (Friday, August 29, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45874-45875]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-23107]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion for Native American Human Remains
and Associated Funerary Objects in the Possession of the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District, Tulsa, OK
AGENCY: National Park Service
ACTION: Notice
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Notice is hereby given in accordance with provisions of the Native
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, 25 U.S.C.
3003(d), of the completion of an inventory of human remains and
associated funerary objects in the possession of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Tulsa District, Tulsa, OK.
A detailed inventory and assessment of the human remains and
associated funerary objects was done by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers in consultation with representatives of the Muscogee (Creek)
Nation of Oklahoma, the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Thlopthlocco
Tribal Town, Kialigee Tribal Town, and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.
Between 1988 and July, 1990, human remains representing a minimum
of twelve individuals were exposed by shoreline erosion at site
34MI121, Eufaula Lake, McIntosh County, OK and removed by U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District personnel. No known individuals were
identified. The 361 associated funerary objects include a shell
fragment, corroded nails, blue glass faceted cut beads; green, white,
and black glass beads; old glass, a coarse piece of wood, a metal
button, and a corroded piece of metal.
Based on the associated funerary objects, these burials are
estimated to date from immediately after Removal to before the Civil
War (1832-1861). These individuals have been determined to be Native
American based on the age and types of associated funerary objects.
Site 34MI121 is located within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek)
and Seminole Nations who jointly occupied this area between 1833 and
1855.
In 1987, human remains representing one individual were exposed by
shoreline erosion at site 34MI139, Eufaula Lake, McIntosh County, OK
and removed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District personnel.
No known individual was identified. No associated funerary objects were
present.
Morphological evidence, including post-bregmatic depression, oval
external auditory meatus, frontal bossing, and a high-rounded skull,
shows this individual exhibits Native American, African American, and
European American features. Oral history information received by the
Corps in the early 1960s indicates that a post-Civil War Freedman Creek
cemetery is located at site 34MI139. Muscogee (Creek) Nation records
show that site 34MI139 was originally allotted to Mr. Alexander Brown
(Enrollment no. 2570) in 1902. Mr. Brown resided in the Arkansas
Colored Tribal Town, one of three Muscogee (Creek) Freedmen Tribal
Towns. The Muscogee (Creek) Freedmen Roll is an internal record of
Muscogee citizens who were slaves or decendents of slaves held by
Muscogee prior to and during the Civil War. Following the Civil War,
the Freedmen
[[Page 45875]]
became full Muscogee (Creek) citizens. (Prior to the Civil War, any
person whose mother was Muscogee and whose father was African or of
African descent was a full Muscogee citizen.) This historical context
establishes the cultural affiliation of the enrollees of the Muscogee
Freedmen Roll to the present-day Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
In 1987, human remains representing one individual were exposed by
shoreline erosion at site 34MI144, Eufuala Lake, McIntosh County, OK
and removed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District personnel.
No known individual was identified. The 53 associated funerary objects
include blue shell, edged plates, transfer-printed ceramics,
undecorated whiteware, ironstone ceramics, mold-decorated whiteware,
porcelain, stoneware ceramics, old glass fragments, rusted machine-cut
nails, a wire nail, garden-type iron hoe, iron buckles, metal
fragments, a quartzite hammer stone, metal and ceramic buttons, a boar
tusk, and a piece of turtle carapace.
This individual has been determined to be Native American based on
the associated funerary objects. The burial has been dated to between
1866 and 1890, also based on the associated funerary objects. These
dates fall within the time of exclusive Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole
Nations' occupation of this area, 1832 to 1890.
Between 1988 and June 1990, human remains representing three
individuals were exposed by shoreline erosion at site 34MI313, Eufuala
Lake, McIntosh County, OK and removed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Tulsa District personnel. No known individual was identified. The 241
associated funerary objects include a stoneware glazed elbow pipe, a
brass belt buckle, a metal planter's hoe, glass beads and bead
fragments, a small piece of lead shot, old green glass fragments, a
metal finger ring, a piece of red cotton cloth, stone flakes, animal
bone fragments, silver ear bobs with loops and pendent, a silver finger
ring, pottery sherds, and one small piece of coal.
Based on the types of associated funerary objects, these
individuals have been determined to be Native American. The associated
funerary objects place the dates of the burials to the post-1832--pre-
1861 period. During this time period, site 34MI313 and the surrounding
area were exclusively used and occupied by the Muscogee (Creek) and
Seminole Nations.
Based on the above mentioned information, officials of the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District have determined that, pursuant
to 43 CFR 10 (d)(1), the human remains listed above represent the
physical remains of at least seventeen individuals of Native American
ancestry. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District officials
has also determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 655
cultural items listed 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. Lastly, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Tulsa District officials have determined that, pursuant to
25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is a relationship of shared group identity
which can be reasonably traced between these human remains and
associated funerary objects and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of
Oklahoma, the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Thlopthlocco Tribal Town,
Kialigee Tribal Town, and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.
This notice has been sent to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of
Oklahoma, the Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Thlopthlocco Tribal Town,
Kialigee Tribal Town, and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe which believes itself to be
culturally affiliated with these human remains and associated funerary
objects should contact Mr. Robert W. Jobson, NAGPRA Coordinator,
Planning Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa district, P.O.
Box 61, Tulsa, OK 74121-0061, telephone (918) 669-7193 before September
29, 1997. Repatriation of these human remains and associated funerary
objects to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, the Alabama-
Quassarte Tribal Town, Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Kialigee Tribal Town,
and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma may begin after this date if no
additional claimants come forward.
Dated: August 25, 1997.
Francis P. McManamon,
Departmental Consulting Archeologist,
Manager, Archeology and Ethnography Program.
[FR Doc. 97-23107 Filed 8-28-97; 8:45 am]
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