[Federal Register: July 18, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 139)]
[Notices]
[Page 41379-41380]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18jy08-115]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, San Juan Island National Historical Park, Friday
Harbor, WA and Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum,
University of Washington, Seattle, 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 possession of the Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State
Museum (Burke Museum), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, and in
the control of the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park
Service, San Juan Island National Historical Park, Friday Harbor, WA.
The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from
four prehistoric archeological sites within the boundaries of San Juan
Island National Historical Park, San Juan 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
superintendent, San Juan Island National Historical Park.
A detailed assessment of the human remains and associated funerary
objects was made by Burke Museum and San Juan Island National
Historical Park professional staff in consultation with representatives
of the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation, Washington; Samish Indian
Tribe, Washington; and Swinomish Indians of the Swinomish Reservation,
Washington.
In 1946 and 1947, human remains representing a minimum of four
individuals were removed from the Cattle Point Site (45-SJ-01) on San
Juan Island in San Juan County, WA, during legally authorized
excavations by University of Washington archeologist Arden King. Cattle
Point is within the American Camp portion of San Juan Island National
Historical Park on the southern part of San Juan Island. The human
remains and associated funerary objects were transferred to the Burke
Museum and accessioned by the National Park Service. No known
individuals were identified. The two associated funerary objects are
mammal bone fragments.
In 1950, human remains representing a minimum of two individuals
were removed from the Guss Island Site (45-SJ-21) in San Juan County,
WA, during legally authorized excavations as a part of University of
Washington Field Project led by Adan Treganza. The human remains were
transferred to the Burke Museum and accessioned by the National Park
Service. No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary
objects are present.
In 1983, human remains representing a minimum of one individual
were removed from the Guss Island Site (45-SJ-21) in San Juan County,
WA, during legally authorized excavations by University of Washington
Professor Julie Stein. The human remains and associated funerary
objects were transferred to the Burke Museum and accessioned by the
National Park Service. Guss Island is a small island in Garrison Bay
and is within the English Camp portion of San Juan Island National
Historical Park on the northwestern part of San Juan Island. No known
individual was identified. The nine associated funerary objects are one
deer vertebra fragment, one deer tibia, one bird coracoid bone, one
bird humerus, two fish bones, and three pieces of fire modified rock.
In 1950, human remains representing a minimum of seven individuals
were removed from the English Camp Site (45-SJ-24) in San Juan County,
WA, during a University of Washington summer field school directed by
Professor Adan Treganza of San Francisco State University. The human
remains and associated funerary objects were transferred to the Burke
Museum and accessioned by the National Park Service. No known
individuals were identified. The 33 associated funerary objects are 1
broken chipped stone projectile point and 32 non-human bone fragments.
In 1970, 1971, and 1972, human remains representing a minimum of
eight individuals were removed from the English Camp Site in San Juan
County, WA, during University of Idaho field schools directed by Dr.
Roderick Sprague. The human remains and associated funerary objects
were transferred to the Burke Museum and accessioned by the National
Park Service. No known individuals were identified. The 61 associated
funerary objects are 1 splinter awl made from deer bone, 1 tip of an
antler tine, 1 square nail fragment, 1 wood fragment, 1 Horse Clam
shell fragment, 6 basalt flakes, and 50 non-human skeletal fragments
and non-human teeth.
In 1984, 1988, and 1990, human remains representing a minimum of
five individuals were removed from the English Camp Site in San Juan
County, WA, during legally authorized excavations by Professor Julie
Stein of the University of Washington. The human remains and associated
funerary objects were transferred to the Burke Museum and accessioned
by the National Park Service. No known individuals were identified. The
27 associated funerary objects are non-human bone fragments.
In 1951, human remains representing a minimum of seven individuals
were removed from the North Garrison Bay
[[Page 41380]]
Site (45-SJ-25) in San Juan County, WA, during a summer field school in
archeology under the direction of Professor Carroll Burroughs of the
University of Washington. The North Garrison Bay Site is a prehistoric
village site north of both the Guss Island Site and English Camp Site
referred to previously. The fragmentary human remains were transferred
to the Burke Museum and accessioned by the National Park Service. No
known individuals were identified. The eight associated funerary
objects are one shell fragment, one fused non-human radius and ulna,
one deer ulna, one carnivore mandible fragment, one non-human rib
fragment, and three lots of organic matter.
Based upon non-destructive osteological analysis, archeological
data, geographic context and accession data, the 34 individuals from
the four San Juan Island sites are of Native American ancestry. Arden
King's analysis of archeological data from Cattle Point resulted in the
identification of three prehistoric phases, with the most recent
representing a maritime adaptation that is ancestral to historic native
populations in the United States and Canada. Archeological research and
analysis indicates continuous habitation of San Juan Island, including
the four sites mentioned here, from approximately 2,000 years ago
through the mid-19th century. Anthropologist Wayne Suttles has
identified the occupants of San Juan Island as Northern Straits
language-speaking people, a linguistic subset of a larger Central Coast
Salish population, who were ancestors of the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi
Reservation, Washington. Furthermore, Suttles' anthropological research
in the late 1940s confirmed that the Lummi primarily occupied San Juan
Island and other nearby islands in the contact period and during the
early history of the Lummi Reservation that was established on the
mainland in 1855 through Article II of the Treaty of Point Elliott. San
Juan Island is within the aboriginal territory of the Lummi Tribe of
the Lummi Reservation, Washington. Lummi oral tradition, history and
anthropological data clearly associate the Lummi with San Juan Island.
The Samish Indian Tribe, Washington is closely associated with the
Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation, Washington linguistically and
culturally, and the Samish regard San Juan Island to be within the
usual and accustomed territory shared by both tribes at the time of the
Point Elliott Treaty negotiations in 1855. In 2006, the Samish Indian
Tribe, Washington and the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation,
Washington entered into a cooperative agreement to have the Lummi Tribe
of the Lummi Reservation, Washington take the lead in receiving
repatriated human remains and funerary objects from San Juan Island
National Historical Park. The traditional territory of the Swinomish
Indians of the Swinomish Reservation, Washington is on the mainland in
the vicinity of La Conner, WA, on Whidbey Island and Fidalgo Island,
the site of their reservation.
Officials of San Juan Island National Historical Park have
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains
described above represent the physical remains of 34 individuals of
Native American ancestry. Officials of San Juan Island National
Historical Park also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001
(3)(A), the 140 associated funerary objects 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. Lastly, officials
of San Juan Island National Historical Park 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 Lummi Tribe of
the Lummi Reservation, Washington.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary
objects should contact Peter Dederich, superintendent, San Juan Island
National Historical Park, P.O. Box 429, Friday Harbor, WA 98250-04289,
telephone (360) 378-2240, before August 18, 2008. Repatriation of the
human remains and associated funerary objects to the Lummi Tribe of the
Lummi Reservation, Washington may proceed after that date if no
additional claimants come forward.
San Juan Island National Historical Park is responsible for
notifying the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation, Washington; Samish
Indian Tribe, Washington; and Swinomish Indians of the Swinomish
Reservation, Washington that this notice has been published.
Dated: June 10, 2008
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-16482 Filed 7-17-08; 8:45 am]
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