FR Doc E8-24968[Federal Register: October 21, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 204)]
[Notices]
[Page 62532-62533]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21oc08-91]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Defense, Army
Corps of Engineers, Portland District, Portland, OR and University of
Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Eugene, OR
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 for which the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and
Cultural History, Eugene, OR, and U.S. Department of Defense, Army
Corps of Engineers, Portland District, Portland, OR, have joint
responsibility. The human remains and associated funerary objects were
removed from a site on Army Corps of Engineers land within the John Day
Dam project area, Klickitat 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.
A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the
University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History and U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District professional staff in
consultation with representatives of the Confederated Tribes and Bands
of the Yakama Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon; and Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho.
Native American cultural items described in this notice were
excavated under an Antiquities Act permit by the University of Oregon,
Eugene, OR, on Army Corps of Engineers project land. Following
excavations at the site described below, and under the provisions of
the permits, the University of Oregon was allowed to retain the
collections for preservation.
In 1965, human remains representing a minimum of three individuals
were removed from site 45-KL-5, also known as the Alderdale Site,
Klickitat County,
[[Page 62533]]
WA, during excavations by the University of Oregon prior to
construction of the John Day Dam. No known individuals were identified.
The 55 associated funerary objects are 1 stone knife/scraper; 1 bone
awl; 1 obsidian flake; 15 assorted flakes and shatter fragments; 1
unmodified angular basalt piece; 3 animal bones; and 33 animal bone
fragments.
Site 45-KL-5 is located on the now-inundated, north side shoreline
of the Columbia River adjacent to the town of Alderdale, WA. Recovered
artifacts, ethnographic accounts, and informant reports indicate the
site served as a long term camp or village. At the time of the National
Park Service sponsored excavations, the site was described as heavily-
looted, vandalized, and damaged by the effects of ongoing erosion.
Radiocarbon dates obtained from the site, though not from the burial
contexts, suggest the area was occupied from at least circa 1770 120
years BP into the historic period, as informant reports indicate the
site was still used as an Indian village during the early 20th Century.
Based on the associated funerary objects and the location of the
human remains within the site, all three individuals have been
determined to be Native American. Oral histories and published
ethnographic documentation indicate the site described above is within
the shared, traditional territory of the Wishram, Yakama, Skin-pah,
Wasco, Tenino, Western Columbia River Sahaptin groups, and Nez Perce
bands. Descendants of the Wishram, Yakama, Skin-pah, and other
ancestral groups are members of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of
the Yakama Nation, Washington. Descendants of the Umatilla, Walla
Walla, and Cayuse tribes are members of the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon. Descendants of the Wasco, Tenino,
and other culturally-affiliated Western Columbia River Sahaptin groups
are members of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation
of Oregon. Descendants of Nez Perce groups are members of the Nez Perce
Tribe of Idaho.
Officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District
have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human
remains described above represent the physical remains of three
individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Portland District have also determined that,
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 55 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. Lastly, officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Portland District 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 Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama
Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon; and/or Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary
objects should contact Daniel Mulligan, NAGPRA Coordinator,
Environmental Resources Branch, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland
District, P.O. Box 2946, Portland, OR 97208-2946, telephone (503) 808-
4768, before November 20, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains and
associated funerary objects to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the
Yakama Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon; and/or Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho may proceed
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District is responsible
for notifying the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation,
Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation,
Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon;
and Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho that this notice has been published.
Dated: September 10, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-24968 Filed 10-20-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S
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