[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 181 (Monday, September 19, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58031-58032]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-23899]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: 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), in consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, has 
determined that the cultural items meet the definition of unassociated 
funerary objects and repatriation to the Indian Tribes stated below may 
occur if no additional claimants come forward. Representatives of any 
Indian Tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the 
cultural items may contact the Burke Museum.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian Tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the cultural items 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. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items in the 
possession of the Burke Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 
that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects 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 Native 
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    In 1953-1954, human remains were removed from the Cedar Cave Site 
(45-KT-20), in Kittitas County, WA, during a University of Washington 
Field Expedition led by Dr. Earl Swanson, Jr. The human remains and 
objects were transferred from the University of Washington, Department 
of Anthropology and accessioned by the Burke Museum in 1966 (Burke 
Accn. 1966-95). 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 4 individuals 
and 42 associated funerary objects removed from the Cedar Cave site was 
published in the Federal Register [72 FR 52391-52392, September 13, 
2007]. The Burke Museum and Central Washington University have jointly 
repatriated all human remains and funerary objects from the Cedar Cave 
site described in the NIC. At that time, one object, the burial bundle, 
was believed to have been missing, but has subsequently been identified 
during a collection cataloging and re-housing project. Also at that 
time, a projectile point and two shell beads were not designated as 
associated funerary objects, but based on the available provenience 
information and their proximity to the burial, are now determined to 
have been intentionally placed with the human remains. Therefore, the 
four (now unassociated) funerary objects are one burial bundle, one 
projectile point, and two shell beads.
    Early and late published ethnographic documentation indicates that 
the Cedar Cave Site is 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, 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(3)(B), the four cultural items 
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 and are believed, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual.
     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 objects 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; and the Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho, as well as the 
Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any other Indian Tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated 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 unassociated funerary objects 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; and the Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho, as well 
as the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group, may 
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Burke Museum 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;

[[Page 58032]]

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: September 13, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-23899 Filed 9-16-11; 8:45 am]
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