[Federal Register: September 13, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 177)]
[Notices]
[Page 52388]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13se07-68]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: Cincinnati Museum
Center, Cincinnati, OH
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 cultural items in the possession of the Cincinnati Museum
Center, Cincinnati, OH 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 cultural
items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the
determinations in this notice.
In 1964, the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, now part of the
Cincinnati Museum Center, purchased three cultural items from Traders
Exchange in Champaign, IL. The three items are one string of 23 rolled
copper beads (CMC A14673); one string of 58 small rolled
copper beads (CMC A14674); and one rolled copper bead
(A14675).
The cultural items are catalogued as ``originally excavated from
Cayuse Indian graves near old Fort Walla Walla in the state of
Washington.'' Old Fort Walla Walla was originally a Northwest Company
trading post called Fort Nez Perces. It was along the banks of the
Columbia River north of the mouth of the Walla Walla River in
southeastern Washington around 1818 and was the site of the first
Treaty Council in 1855. Based on museum records, the three cultural
items are reasonably believed to be unassociated funerary objects.
There is no information to indicate when or under what circumstances
Traders Exchange acquired the cultural items, but it is known that a
series of looting[sol]excavation activities took place at old Fort
Walla Walla from the 1880s through at least the 1950s.
Geographic, historic, and ethnological evidence indicate that
Cayuse Indians occupied or utilized the area near Fort Walla Walla in
historic times, and most likely for a considerably longer period before
historic times. Geographically, the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla
traditionally covered a large percentage of eastern Oregon and
southeastern Washington. The Cayuse or Waiilatpus, occupied the slopes
of the Umatilla, Walla Walla, John Day, Upper Grande Ronde, Powder, and
Burnt River drainages, as well as the Willow Creek branch of the
Malheur River. There is a preponderance of evidence that a cultural
continuity exists between the tribes known today as Cayuse, Umatilla,
and Walla Walla and the occupants of the Fort Walla Walla area prior to
contact. Descendants of the Cayuse are members of the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon.
Officials of the Cincinnati Museum Center have determined that,
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the three 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. Officials of the Cincinnati Museum Center 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 objects and the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should
contact Jane MacKnight, Registrar, Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301
Western Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45203, telephone (513) 287-7092, before
October 15, 2007. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary objects to
the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon may proceed
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
Cincinnati Museum Center is responsible for notifying Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon that this notice has been
published.
Dated: August 20, 2007
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-18105 Filed 9-12-07; 8:45 am]
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