[Federal Register: May 13, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 92)]
[Notices]               
[Page 26988-26990]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13my10-78]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

 
Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Defense, Army 
Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, Walla Walla, WA and Museum of 
Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary 
objects in the control of the U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of 
Engineers, Walla Walla District, Walla Walla, WA, and in the physical 
custody of the Museum of Anthropology, Washington State University, 
Pullman, WA. The human remains and associated funerary objects were 
removed from site 45FR50, Marmes Rockshelter, Franklin County, WA.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3). 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 and associated funerary objects. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the U.S. 
Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers professional staff in 
consultation with representatives of the Confederated Tribes of the 
Colville Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla 
Indian Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama 
Nation, Washington; Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and the Wanapum Band, a 
non-Federally recognized Indian group.

[[Page 26989]]

    Between 1962 and 1968, human remains were removed from site 45FR50, 
Marmes Rockshelter, in Franklin County, WA, by Washington State 
University, first under contract with the National Park Service and 
then under contract with the Army Corps of Engineers. The earliest 
excavations (1962-1964) focused on the area within the rockshelter 
proper with specific emphasis placed on the excavation of human remains 
features within that area. From 1965 to 1968, efforts focused on 
excavation of the floodplain and the remaining areas within the 
rockshelter, including a cremation hearth.
    The human remains and associated funerary objects from the earliest 
excavations were designated as Burials 1 to 12, Burials 14 to 22, Small 
Unnumbered Cast, Rice Burial 05, MCX 1, Feature 64-6, and non-cremation 
rockshelter remains. No known individuals were identified. These human 
remains totaled a minimum of 45 individuals and 2,047 associated 
funerary objects (2,020 counted items and 27 lots of items), which were 
described in a Notice of Inventory Completion in the Federal Register 
(70 FR 42100-42102, August 20, 2009), and repatriated to the claimant 
tribes in September 2009.
    Human remains from the cremation hearth were originally recorded as 
Burial 23 and the human remains from the floodplain were originally 
recorded as Marmes I, II, III, and IV. Army Corps of Engineers 
professional staff have determined that human remains representing a 
minimum of eight individuals were excavated from the cremation hearth 
area (to include all remains designated as Burial 23 and/or within the 
boundaries of the defined cremation hearth provenience), and that human 
remains representing a minimum of four individuals were excavated from 
the floodplain (to include all remains designated as Marmes I to IV 
and/or from a floodplain provenience). No known individuals were 
identified. The associated funerary objects from the cremation area 
total 1,581 counted items and 78 lots or samples of weighed items 
(98,125 grams). The 1,581 counted items are 78 faunal bone fragments, 
1,326 pieces of mammal bone, 9 fish bones, 5 pieces of bird bone, 114 
pieces of charcoal, 5 olivella shell beads, 43 basalt and 
cryptocrystalline/chert tools, and 1 piece of fire cracked rock. The 78 
lots or samples are 43 weighed lots of mammal bone (2,564 grams), 2 
lots weighed fish bone (0.003 grams), 2 bags with ash residue (15,150 
grams), and 31 charcoal samples (80,411 grams). The 26 associated 
funerary objects from the floodplain area are 23 animal bone fragments 
and 3 bone rods.
    In addition to the human remains removed from the cremation hearth 
and floodplain, a total of 513 counted human fragments and 1 small bag 
of human bone fragments are located in the Washington University 45FR50 
archeological collections for which there is no specific burial or 
provenience information; therefore, these materials have been 
designated unprovenienced remains. The Army Corps of Engineers has 
determined that the unprovenienced human remains originated from the 
individuals described in the Notice of Inventory Completion published 
on August 20, 2009, or are those within the cremation hearth and from 
the floodplain described in this Notice. Therefore, these human bone 
fragments do not increase the minimum number of individuals in the 
August 20, 2009, Notice nor those recorded as cremation or floodplain 
in this Notice. Also in the Washington University 45FR50 archeological 
collections are 39 associated funerary objects found directly with 
these human remains. The 39 associated funerary objects are animal bone 
fragments.
    The human remains from the cremation hearth, the floodplain, and 
the undesignated remains were determined to be Native American because 
of the physical traits exhibited by the remains and the cultural items 
found with them, which are similar both to the materials found in other 
areas of the site from which Native American human remains were 
identified and to materials from archeological collections and in 
context with Native American burials and cremations in southeastern 
Washington. The archeological materials at site 45FR50 have been 
variously classified into chronological and cultural phases, and 
include the Windust Phase (+11,000-8000 BP), Cascade Phase (8000-4500 
BP), Tucannon Phase (4500-2500 BP), and Harder Phase (2500-500 BP). The 
floodplain and cremation remains date from the earliest period, or the 
Windust Phase. The majority of the human remains from the rockshelter 
described in the Notice of August 20, 2009, date to the later phases, 
beginning with the Cascade.
    Archeological evidence provides the most direct line of evidence 
supporting affiliation between an earlier group and a present-day 
Indian tribe. The evidence found at site 45FR50, and in nearby 
archeological sites, supports a nearly continuous occupation of this 
region of the Columbia Plateau beginning as far back as 11,500 years. 
The archeological assemblage of site 45FR50 represents a long sequence 
of cultural occupation. Archeological and geological connections at the 
site can be drawn both horizontally across the site, from the 
rockshelter to the floodplain and across the floodplain, and also 
vertically, from the earlier deposits to the later deposits. Cultural 
continuity from the earliest to latest occupations within the site can 
be traced through the changes in the use of subsistence resources 
(marine and other) and the gradual changes in lithic assemblages.
    Geographical and anthropological lines of evidence support the 
archeological evidence of earlier group habitation in the same 
geographic location as the historic groups. Anthropologically, evidence 
for continuity includes the presence of red ochre and olivella shells 
in the earliest Windust deposits, continuing into later deposits and 
found in the later burials. An articulated owl foot artifact was 
recovered from the Windust Phase in the floodplain, and the importance 
of the owl in southern Plateau Native American culture is well-
documented. Oral tradition evidence provided by tribal elders indicates 
a large Palus village, which had been inhabited by tribal ancestors 
from time immemorial, was once located near the Marmes Rockshelter. 
According to tribal elders, their ancestors were mobile and traveled 
the landscape to gather resources, as well as to trade.
    Ethnographic documentation indicates that the present-day location 
of the Marmes Rockshelter in Franklin County, WA, is within the 
territory occupied historically by the Palus (Palouse) Indians. During 
the historic period, the Palouse people settled along the Snake River; 
relied on fish, game, and root resources for subsistence; shared their 
resource areas and maintained extensive kinship connections with other 
groups in the area; and had limited political integration until the 
adoption of the horse (Walker 1998). These characteristics are common 
to the greater Plateau cultural communities surrounding the Palouse 
territory including the Nez Perce, Cayuse, Walla Walla, Yakama, and 
Wanapum groups. Moreover, information provided during consultation by 
representatives of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 
Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, 
Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; 
Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally 
recognized Indian group, substantiate shared past and present

[[Page 26990]]

traditional lifeways that bind the aforementioned Indian tribes and the 
Wanapum Band to common ancestors. The descendants of these Plateau 
communities of southeastern Washington are now widely dispersed and are 
members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 
Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, 
Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; 
Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally 
recognized Indian group.
    Officials of the U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of 
Engineers, Walla Walla District, have determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described above represent the 
physical remains of 12 individuals of Native American ancestry. 
Officials of the U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, 
Walla Walla District, also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 
3001(3)(A), the 1,724 objects, which are 1,646 individual objects and 
98,125 grams of material in 78 lots or samples, described above 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. Furthermore, officials of the U.S. Department of Defense, 
Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, have determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of shared group 
identity that can be reasonably traced between the Native American 
human remains and associated funerary objects and the Confederated 
Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of 
the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands 
of the Yakama Nation, Washington; and Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho. Lastly, 
officials of the U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, 
Walla Walla District, have determined that there is a cultural 
relationship between the Native American human remains and associated 
funerary objects and the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized 
Indian group.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and/or associated 
funerary objects should contact LTC Michael Farrell, U.S. Department of 
Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, 201 North Third 
Ave., Walla Walla, WA 99362-1876, telephone (509) 527-7700, before June 
14, 2010. Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 
Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, 
Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; 
and Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho, may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward. The U.S. Department of Defense, Army 
Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District recognizes the participation 
of the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group, during 
the transfer of the human remains and associated funerary objects to 
the Indian tribes.
    The U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Walla 
Walla District, is responsible for notifying the Confederated Tribes of 
the Colville Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the 
Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of 
the Yakama Nation, Washington; Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and the Wanapum 
Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group, that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: May 4, 2010.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2010-11456 Filed 5-12-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S