[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 181 (Monday, September 19, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58034-58035]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-23900]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Thomas Burke Memorial Washington 
State Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum (Burke 
Museum) has completed an inventory of human remains and associated 
funerary objects, in consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, 
and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the 
human remains and associated funerary objects and present-day Indian 
Tribes. Representatives of any Indian Tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects may contact the Burke Museum. Repatriation of the human remains 
and associated funerary objects to the Indian Tribes stated below may 
occur if no additional claimants come forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian Tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact the Burke Museum at the address below by October 
19, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Peter Lape, Burke Museum, University of Washington, Box 
353010, Seattle, WA 98195-3010, telephone (206) 685-3849.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 possession of the Burke Museum, 
University of Washington, Seattle, WA. The human remains and associated 
funerary objects were removed from Grant 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.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Burke

[[Page 58035]]

Museum 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 of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon; 
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; and the 
Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho (hereinafter ``The Tribes''). The Burke Museum 
also consulted with the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian 
group (hereinafter ``The Indian Group'').

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1920, human remains were removed by Dr. F.S. Hall of the 
Washington State Museum from the Pot Holes site or Hall Site 7 
(later assigned 45-GR-131) located on the east bank of the Columbia 
River, south of Trinidad, Grant County, WA. The human remains were 
accessioned by the museum in November 1920 (Burke Accn. 1860). 
In 1974, the Burke Museum legally transferred portions of the human 
remains to Central Washington University. In 2007, a Notice of 
Inventory Completion (NIC) describing 35 individuals and 685 associated 
funerary objects removed from the Pot Hole site was published in the 
Federal Register [72 FR 52391-52392, September 13, 2007]. The Burke 
Museum and Central Washington University have jointly repatriated these 
human remains and funerary objects to the culturally affiliated Tribes 
listed in the NIC. In 2010, the Burke Museum found an additional two 
individuals and two associated funerary objects from the Pot Hole site 
during an inventory of the University of Washington, Department of 
Anthropology Collections. No known individuals were identified. The two 
associated funerary objects are one lot of bones (non-human) and one 
unmodified rock.
    Early and late published ethnographic documentation indicates that 
the Pot Hole site is located in the aboriginal territory of the Moses-
Columbia or Sinkiuse, and the Yakima (Daugherty 1973, Miller 1998, 
Mooney 1896, Ray 1936, Spier 1936) whose descendents are represented 
today by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 
Washington, and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, 
Washington. Furthermore, information provided during consultation 
indicates that the aboriginal ancestors occupying this area were highly 
mobile and traveled the landscape for gathering resources as well as 
trade. Descendents of these Plateau communities are now widely 
dispersed and enrolled in the two Tribes mentioned above, as well as 
the Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs 
Reservation of Oregon; and the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized 
Indian group. Museum documentation indicates that the cultural items 
were found in connection with the human remains. The cultural items are 
consistent with cultural items typically found in context with burials 
in eastern Washington.

Determinations Made by the Burke Museum

    Officials of the Burke Museum have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of two individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the two objects 
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.
     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 Tribes 
and The Indian Group.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any Indian Tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Peter Lape, Burke Museum, University of 
Washington, Box 35101, Seattle, WA 98195, telephone (206) 685-3849, 
before October 19, 2011. Repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects to The Tribes and The Indian Group may 
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Burke Museum is responsible for notifying The Tribes and The 
Indian Group that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 13, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-23900 Filed 9-16-11; 8:45 am]
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