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 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and additional information on the determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the summary or related records. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

A total of 115 cultural items have been requested for repatriation. The 115 unassociated funerary objects include stone points, spearheads, knives, celts, gouges, abraders, hammerstones, iron pyrites, paint grinders, plummets, red and yellow ochre, pestles, bone fishhooks, bone awls, an iron hatchet, and a birch bark basket. The objects described in this notice were removed from various burial sites in Maine, including Emerson Cemetery, Hartford Cemetery, Mason Cemetery, Orland, Boynton's Point, Frenchman Bay, Stover's Shell Heap, and unknown locations in Hancock County, Penobscot County, Piscataquis County, and Waldo County. They were gifted to the University's Museum of Natural History in 1921 by Warren K. Moorehead during his tenure at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

No hazardous substances are known to have been used to treat any of the unassociated funerary objects.

Determinations

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has determined that:

• The 115 unassociated funerary objects described in this notice are reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near human remains, and are connected, either at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony of a Native American culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. The unassociated funerary objects have been identified by a preponderance of the evidence as related to human remains, specific individuals, or families, or removed from a specific burial site or burial area of an individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
• There is a connection between the cultural items described in this notice and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians; Mi'kmaq Nation (previously listed as Aroostook Band of Micmacs); Passamaquoddy Tribe; and the Penobscot Nation.

Requests for Repatriation

Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified in this notice under 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 September 30, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 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 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice and to any other consulting parties.

Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

91 FR 55898