Federal Register #2026-16496

Notice of Intended Repatriation of Native American Funerary Objects by Federal and State Agencies

This notice concerns the intended repatriation and disposition of Native American funerary objects by several government and museum entities: - Government Buyer: - U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service - Texas Parks and Wildlife Department - Autry Museum of the American West - No commercial OEMs or vendors are involved; all items are cultural artifacts, not manufactured products. - Products/Objects for Disposition: - Two Caddo ceramic vessels (Poynor Engraved Globular Carinated Bowl with Lip Nodes, Bullard Brushed) from northeast Texas - Stone mortuary knife from Barnstable County, Massachusetts - Multiple unassociated funerary objects from Santa Catalina Island, California, including: - Steatite cooking pots, abalone shell, adzes, asphaltum applicator, beads, hair pin, breast ornament, barbed point, charms, comals, cooking pot, contracting stem cluster points, cups, doughnut stones, dress ornaments, drills, excelsior point, knife, ladle, mosaic inlays, pelican stones, pendants, pipes, polishing stones, red paint, shallow bowl, shell, shell bead blanks, shell beads, shell ornaments, shell pendants, spike, spoon, stone pendant, stone ring, stone tube, sweat scraper, trade beads, Vandenberg contracting stem point, pebble resembling a club, awl, steatite tube, unworked steatite, miniature steatite mortar, steatite bowl preform, chevron trade bead - Notable Requirements: - Disposition and repatriation are conducted under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) - Claims for disposition must be submitted by eligible lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations - Items become unclaimed if no claim is received by the specified deadline - Priority for some items is given to specific tribes, such as the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) - No procurement of commercial goods or services is involved; this is a legal and cultural process for returning heritage items.

Description

The U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Cape Cod National Seashore intends to carry out the disposition of an unassociated funerary object removed from Federal or Tribal lands. The disposition will be made to the lineal descendants, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization with priority for disposition as stated in the notice. The cultural item is a stone mortuary knife identified in Barnstable County, MA. Claims for disposition must be received by August 13, 2027, after which the item will become unclaimed if no claim is made.

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