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FR Doc 03-10912
[Federal Register: May 2, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 85)]
[Notices]
[Page 23490]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02my03-77]
[[Page 23490]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion: Alaska State Museum, Juneau, AK
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 in the possession of the
Alaska State Museum, Juneau, AK. The human remains were removed from
Steilacoom Creek, Pierce County, WA, and from an unrecorded site
probably in the vicinity of Tacoma, Pierce 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 within this notice are the sole responsibility of
the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the
Native American human remains. The National Park Service is not
responsible for the determinations within this notice.
A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by Alaska State
Museum professional staff, a physical anthropologist, and a medical
examiner with the State of Alaska, in consultation with the Muckleshoot
Indian Tribe of the Muckleshoot Reservation, Washington; Nisqually
Indian Tribe of the Nisqually Reservation, Washington; Puyallup Tribe
of the Puyallup Reservation, Washington; and Tulalip Tribes of the
Tulalip Reservation, Washington.
In 1957, two human crania representing a minimum of two individuals
were donated to the Alaska Historical Library and Museum (now the
Alaska State Museum), Juneau, AK, by Belle Simpson of Juneau, AK. The
human remains were originally collected by Judge James Wickersham
during his residence in Tacoma, WA, in 1883-1900. Museum records
indicate that one cranium was removed from a canoe burial on Steilacoom
Creek, Pierce County, WA, in 1892, and that the other cranium came from
an unspecified location in the State of Washington. Since Judge
Wickersham excavated in areas vacated as a result of the 1854 Medicine
Creek Treaty, it is likely that the second cranium, listed in museum
records as coming from ``Washington state,'' also came from the area
around Tacoma, and that both human remains derive from 19th-century
contexts. No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary
objects are present.
Dr. Joel Irish, a physical anthropologist with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Forest Service, examined the human remains in 1990.
Both crania display an identical form of forehead flattening that was
practiced by tribes of western Washington through the late 19th
century. On the basis of the cranial modification exhibited by both
sets of human remains, as well as other traits, Dr. Irish concluded
that the human remains represented two Native American individuals.
On the basis of ethnohistorical, archeological, and geographic
evidence presented at the time of consultation, the human remains are
most likely affiliated with the Puyallup Tribe of the Puyallup
Reservation, Washington. Archeological evidence from the area around
Tacoma, WA, demonstrates a long uninterrupted occupation through the
Prehistoric and Historic periods. The area where the human remains were
collected falls within the historical territory of the Southern
Lushootseed Salish and the Steilacoom people, who were consolidated on
the Puyallup and Nisqually reservations as a result of the 1854 treaty.
The present-day tribes most closely affiliated with the Southern
Lushootseed Salish and the Steilacoom people are the Puyallup Tribe of
the Puyallup Reservation, Washington and the Nisqually Indian Tribe of
the Nisqually Reservation, Washington. The Nisqually Indian Tribe of
the Nisqually Reservation, Washington supports the affiliation of the
human remains to the Puyallup Tribe of the Puyallup Reservation,
Washington.
Officials of the Alaska State Museum have determined that, pursuant
to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains described above represent
the physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
Officials of the Alaska State Museum 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 human remains and
the Puyallup Tribe of the Puyallup Reservation, Washington.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Bruce
Kato, Chief Curator, Alaska State Museum, 395 Whittier Street, Juneau,
AK 99801-1718, telephone (907) 465-4866, before June 2, 2003.
Repatriation of the human remains to the Puyallup Tribe of the Puyallup
Reservation, Washington may proceed after that date if no additional
claimants come forward.
The Alaska State Museum is responsible for notifying the
Muckleshoot Indian Tribe of the Muckleshoot Reservation, Washington;
Nisqually Indian Tribe of the Nisqually Reservation, Washington;
Puyallup Tribe of the Puyallup Reservation, Washington; and Tulalip
Tribes of the Tulalip Reservation, Washington that this notice has been
published.
Dated: March 20, 2003.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources.
[FR Doc. 03-10912 Filed 5-1-03; 8:45 am]
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