Federal Register / Vol. 60 No. 153 / Wednesday, August 9, 1995 /
Notices Page 40600
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion for Human Remains and Associated
Funerary Objects in the Control of Glacier Bay National Park and
Preserve, Gustavus, AK
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior
ACTION: Notice
_________________________________________________________________
Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d), of the
completion of inventory of human remains and associated funerary
objects in the control of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve,
Gustavus, AK. The human remains and associated funerary objects
are curated at Washington State University, Pullman, WA.
A detailed inventory and assessment of these human remains and
associated funerary objects has been made by the National Park
Service curatorial and anthropological staff in consultation with
representatives of Hoonah Indian Association.
The cremated human bones and associated funerary objects were
recovered in 1964 from a collapsed log grave house on the western
shore of Excursion Inlet, AK, by Dr. Robert E. Ackerman. The
cremated human remains and funerary objects were originally in
bent wood boxes which were deteriorated when documented by Dr.
Ackerman.
The human remains represent a minimum of three adults of unknown
sex, stature, and age. No known individuals were identifiable.
Associated funerary objects include two copper tube fragments,
two white glass shirt buttons, several clay pipestem fragments,
an eroded piece of metal with bits of woven fabric, four pieces
of shaped wood (remains of the bent wood box or boxes that
originally contained the remains), a bone socket containing a
wooden plug, and several decayed bits of cordage.
Testimony of Tlingit elders recorded in Goldschmidt and Haas,
"Possessory Rights of the Natives of Southeastern Alaska,"
(1946), and testimony taken during recent consultation with
Hoonah Tlingit elders identifies Excursion Inlet as within the
traditional territory of the Hoonah Tlingit. Dr. Ackerman
suggests that the practice of cremation among the Hoonah Tlingit
became very rare after 1890. On that basis these human remains
are believed to have been interred sometime prior to that time.
Based on the above mentioned information, officials of the
National Park Service has 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 Native American human
remains and associated funerary objects and the Hoonah Indian
Association. All of the objects are reasonably believed to have
been placed with or near individual Native American human remains
either at the time of death or later as part of a death rite or
ceremony.
This notice has been sent to officials of the Hoonah Indian
Association. Representatives of any other Indian tribe that
believes itself to be culturally affiliated with these human
remains and associated funerary objects should contact
Superintendent Jim Brady, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve,
P.O. Box 140, Gustavus, AK 99826-0140, telephone (907) 697-2230
before September 8, 1995. Repatriation of the human remains and
associated funerary objects to the Hoonah Indian Association may
begin after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
Dated: August 3, 1995
Veletta Canouts
Acting, Departmental Consulting Archeologist, and
Acting Chief, Archeological Assistance Division
[FR Doc. 95-19607; Filed 8-8-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F
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