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 Putnam Museum and Science Center 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 28 cultural items have been requested for repatriation. The 28 unassociated funerary objects are ceramics, beads, a spear point, and shell cups and digging tools. This number includes 11 unassociated funerary objects that are missing, including one ceramic, one lot of shell beads, and nine shell cups.

In 1926, Warren K. Moorehead removed one shell cup and two ceramics from burial contexts in the Etowah Mound group in Bartow County, GA, and donated them to the Museum the same year.

In 1904, Clarence B. Moore removed one lot of shell beads, two shell cups, and one spear point from burials in a mound on the north end of Creighton Island, McIntosh County, GA, and one lot of shell beads, and 20 shell cups and digging tools from burial contexts in Bourbon Field, Sapelo Island, in McIntosh County, GA and donated them to the Museum the same year.

The Putnam Museum and Science Center has no evidence of potentially hazardous substances being used to treat any of the unassociated funerary objects.

Determinations

The Putnam Museum and Science Center has determined that:

• The 28 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 Muscogee (Creek) 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 November 30, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Putnam Museum and Science Center 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 Putnam Museum and Science Center 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 68544