[Federal Register: March 15, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 50)]
[Notices]               
[Page 14045]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15mr11-104]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

 
Notice of Intent To Repatriate a Cultural Item: Museum of 
Anthropology at 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. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate a cultural item in the possession of the Museum of 
Anthropology at Washington State University, Pullman, WA, that meets 
the definition of unassociated funerary object under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 cultural 
item. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    In 2005, a copper pendant was given to the Museum of Anthropology 
at Washington State University for intended repatriation by Whitney and 
Mariana Sue Johnson of Charlotte, MI. Attached to it was a card with a 
handwritten label reading ``Copper pendant from Indian Burial No. 195. 
Zimmerman. Snake River 5 mi east of Riparia Columbia Co. Wash.'' They 
acquired the item through inheritance from Mr. Johnson's grandfather, 
Ralph Hunter, who they believe purchased the item while traveling 
through the area between the 1920s and 1940s. The pendant is similar in 
style to other pendants often found in protohistoric period graves 
(A.D. 1700-1900) on the southern Plateau.
    Zimmerman was a railroad siding that was located between Riparia 
and Lyons ferries, which are less than 10 river miles apart. The area 
is within the overlapping 19th century territories of the Nez Perce and 
Palus (Sprague 1998; Walker 1998). Descendants of these communities are 
members 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; Nez 
Perce Tribe, Idaho; and the Wanapum Band, a non-federally recognized 
Indian group.
    Officials of the Museum of Anthropology at Washington State 
University have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 
one cultural item described above is 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 and is believed, by a 
preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed from a specific 
burial site of a Native American individual. Officials of the Museum of 
Anthropology at Washington State University also 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 unassociated 
funerary object and 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; Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; 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 unassociated funerary object should 
contact Mary Collins, WSU Museum of Anthropology, P.O. Box 644910, 
Pullman, WA 99164, telephone (509) 335-4314, before April 14, 2011. 
Repatriation of the unassociated funerary object to 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; Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and the Wanapum 
Band, a non-federally recognized Indian group, may proceed after that 
date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Museum of Anthropology at Washington State University is 
responsible for notifying 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; Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and the Wanapum Band, a 
non-federally recognized Indian group, that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: March 9, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-5850 Filed 3-14-11; 8:45 am]
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