Notice of Inventory Completion: Tennessee Valley Authority, Knoxville, TN
| Published date | 08 November 2021 |
| Citation | 86 FR 61780 |
| Record Number | 2021-24312 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | National Park Service |
Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 213 (Monday, November 8, 2021)
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 213 (Monday, November 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61780-61782]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-24312]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0032947; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Tennessee Valley Authority,
Knoxville, TN
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has completed an
inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects in
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and has determined that
there is no cultural affiliation between the human remains and
associated funerary objects and any present-day Indian Tribe.
Representatives of any Indian Tribe not identified in this notice that
wish to request transfer of control of these human remains and
associated funerary objects should submit a written request to the TVA.
If no additional requestors come forward, transfer of control of the
human remains and associated funerary objects to the Indian Tribes
stated in this notice may proceed.
DATES: Representatives of any Indian Tribe not identified in this
notice that wish to request transfer of control of these human remains
and associated funerary objects should submit a written request with
information in support of the request to the TVA at the address in this
notice by December 8, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Thomas O. Maher, Tennessee Valley
Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT11C, Knoxville, TN 37902-1401,
telephone (865) 632-7458, email [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25
U.S.C.
[[Page 61781]]
3003, of the completion of an inventory of human remains and associated
funerary objects under the control of the Tennessee Valley Authority,
Knoxville, TN. The human remains and associated funerary objects were
removed from site 40TR27, in Trousdale County, TN.
This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3) and
43 CFR 10.9(e). The determinations in this notice are the sole
responsibility of the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has
control of the Native American human remains. The National Park Service
is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
Consultation
A detailed assessment of the human remains and associated funerary
objects was made by TVA's professional staff. On September 25, 2019,
the TVA invited the following Indian Tribes to consult on the
disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects: The
Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Alabama-Coushatta Tribe
of Texas [previously listed as Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas];
Cherokee Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Eastern Shawnee
Tribe of Oklahoma; Kialegee Tribal Town; Shawnee Tribe; The Muscogee
(Creek) Nation; Thlopthlocco Tribal Town; and the United Keetoowah Band
of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma. On October 29, 2019, the TVA conducted
a telephonic consultation with representatives of the Cherokee Nation;
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; and The Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
Hereafter, all the Indian Tribes listed in this section are referred to
as ``The Consulted and Notified Tribes.''
As a result of consultation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
and The Muscogee (Creek) Nation jointly requested transfer of control
of the human remains and associated funerary objects. No objections to
this joint transfer of control were received from The Consulted and
Notified Tribes.
History and Description of the Remains
Between 1980 and 1982, human remains representing, at minimum, 74
individuals were removed from the Duncan Tract site, 40TR27, in
Trousdale County, TN. This site was first recorded by Robert Jolley in
January 1980, as part of a TVA survey of potential soil borrow areas
near the construction site of TVA's Hartsville Nuclear Plant. Under
contract with the TVA, the Anthropological Research Center of Memphis
State University (now Memphis University) mitigated the adverse effects
of the planned soil borrow pit on this site.
Excavations took place primarily from August to December of 1980,
with follow-up excavations in 1981 and 1982. The archeological methods
employed included hand excavation and mechanical stripping of the plow
zone, and excavation of features penetrating the subsoil. Seven
circular structures were identified from post mold patterns and 130
pits were excavated. In their summary report of the excavations
submitted to the TVA in 1983, Charles McNutt and Guy Weaver believed
the primary occupations at the Duncan Tract site date to the Early and
Middle Woodland, but radiocarbon dates and projectile points suggest
the existence of an earlier, Archaic period occupation.
Sometime after 1982, Memphis University transferred the artifacts
excavated from the Duncan Tract site to the Tennessee Division of
Archaeology (TDOA) in Nashville, TN. According to TDOA, the TVA
transferred the collection to the Department of Anthropology at the
University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK) sometime between 1991 and
1997. None of the original excavation forms, maps, or notes have been
found at Memphis University, TDOA, or UTK. The lack of original
excavation documents has complicated the identification of associated
and unassociated funerary objects that were intentionally placed with
human remains. While it is possible that some objects were part of the
midden soil through which the burial unit was excavated, due to the
lack of definitive evidence, the TVA has decided to offer for
disposition those items excavated at site 40TR27 from the features that
held human remains.
Although most of the human remains are fragmentary, both males and
females are present. They range in age from newborn to over 50 years
old. No known individuals were identified. The 4,689 associated
funerary objects found in burial features include two abraders, one
piece of aster, six biface or biface fragments, 832 animal bones or
bone fragments, eight radiocarbon samples, 10 pieces of charcoal, two
pieces of chert, three cores, 1,459 pieces of debitage, one drill, one
end scraper, 24 fire-cracked rocks, six flake tools, 536 unidentified
flora fragments, four fossils, one piece of groundstone, 758 carbonized
hickory nuts, one chert knife, 52 pieces of limestone, one stone
pestle, one pot sherd, 10 projectile points or knives, one quartzite
nodule, 536 pieces of rock, 55 rocks or debitage, three pieces of
sandstone, two scrapers, one piece of shale, 75 shells, 43 shell and
bone fragments, 143 soil samples, one animal tooth, two unifacial
tools, two utilized flakes, 63 walnut fragments, 41 walnut and hickory
fragments, and two worked animal bones.
Site 40TR27 lies outside the boundary of any area recognized by a
final judgment of the Indian Claims Commission or the United States
Court of Claims, or a ratified treaty as the aboriginal land of an
Indian Tribe. On March 14, 1775, Richard Henderson, representing the
Transylvania Company, met with the Cherokee to negotiate the purchase
of land including Trousdale County, TN, for the creation of a 14th
colony. The Treaty of Sycamore Shoals was not acknowledged by the
United States government or the governments of the states of Virginia
and North Carolina. Therefore, the land from which these human remains
and associated funerary objects were removed is not the ``tribal land''
of an Indian Tribe or a Native Hawaiian organization, or the
``aboriginal land'' of an Indian Tribe pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11.
Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3006(c)(5) and 43 CFR 10.10(g)(2)(ii) and
10.16, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review
Committee (Review Committee) may make a recommendation to the Secretary
of the Interior (Secretary) for specific actions for disposition of any
human remains and associated funerary objects not already addressed in
43 CFR 10.11. In April 2021, the Tennessee Valley Authority requested
that the Review Committee consider a proposal to transfer control of
the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice
jointly to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and The Muscogee
(Creek) Nation. The Review Committee carefully considered the request
at its July 7, 2021 meeting and recommended to the Secretary that the
proposed transfer of control proceed. An October 19, 2021 letter
transmitted the Secretary's independent review and concurrence with the
Review Committee that:
Tennessee Valley Authority consulted with every
appropriate Indian Tribe,
None of The Consulted and Notified Tribes objected to the
proposed transfer of control to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
and The Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and
Tennessee Valley Authority may proceed with the agreed
upon transfer of control of the human remains and associated funerary
objects jointly to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and The
Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
[[Page 61782]]
Transfer of control is contingent on the publication of a Notice of
Inventory Completion in the Federal Register. This notice fulfills that
requirement.
Determinations Made by the Tennessee Valley Authority
Officials of the Tennessee Valley Authority have determined that:
Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described
in this notice are Native American based on their presence in
prehistoric archeological contexts and an osteological analysis.
Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3003(e), the human remains described
in this notice represent the physical remains of 74 individuals of
Native American ancestry.
Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 4,689 objects
described in this notice 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.
Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), a relationship of shared
group identity cannot be reasonably traced between the Native American
human remains and any present-day Indian Tribe.
Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11, the land from which these human
remains and associated funerary objects were removed is not the
``tribal land'' of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization, or
the ``aboriginal land of any Indian Tribe.
Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.10(g)(2)(ii) and 10.16, the
disposition of the human remains will be to the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians and The Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
The Tennessee Valley Authority has agreed to transfer
control of the associated funerary objects to the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians and The Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
Additional Requestors and Disposition
Representatives of any Indian Tribe not identified in this notice
that wish to request transfer of control of these human remains and
associated funerary objects should submit a written request with
information in support of the request to Dr. Thomas O. Maher, Tennessee
Valley Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT11C, Knoxville, TN
37902-1401, telephone (865) 632-7458, email [email protected], by
December 8, 2021. After that date, if no additional requestors have
come forward, transfer of control of the human remains and associated
funerary objects to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and The
Muscogee (Creek) Nation may proceed.
The Tennessee Valley Authority is responsible for notifying The
Consulted and Notified Tribes that this notice has been published.
Dated: October 29, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-24312 Filed 11-5-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
