[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 217 (Friday, November 8, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68160-68161]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-28522]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Oregon State Museum of 
Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon and U.S. Department 
of the Interior, National Park Service, Whitman Mission National 
Historic Site, Walla Walla, 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, Sec. 5, of 
the completion of an inventory of human remains in the possession of 
Oregon State Museum of Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, 
Oregon and in the control of U.S. Department of the Interior, National 
Park Service, Whitman Mission National Historic Site, Walla Walla, WA. 
These human remains were removed from a burial site at Whitman Mission 
National Historic Site.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003, Sec. 5 
(d)(3). The determinations within this notice are the sole 
responsibility of the National Park unit that has control of these 
Native American human remains. The Manager, National NAGPRA Program is 
not responsible for the determinations within this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by National 
Park Service and Oregon State Museum of Anthropology professional staff 
and an expert on aboriginal burial practices in the Plateau culture 
area of North America in consultation with representatives of the 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon.
    In October 1960, human remains representing a minimum of one 
individual were removed from a burial at Whitman Mission National 
Historic Site in Walla Walla, Washington during legally authorized 
excavations by NPS archeologist Paul Schumacher. The human skeletal 
remains had been in a flexed position and were thought to be the 
remains of a Native American. They were removed from the burial site at 
Whitman Mission and delivered to University of Oregon where they were 
inspected and described by David L. Cole in November 1960. The skeletal 
remains were confirmed to be those of a Native American woman who had 
been between 50 and 60 years of age at the time of death. No known 
individuals were identified. No funerary objects are present. To honor 
the request of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, 
Oregon these human remains continue to be in the possession of the 
Oregon State Museum of Anthropology, University of Oregon.
    All available documentation on the human remains from the NPS, 
including an archival photograph of the skeletal remains in situ, and 
from the University of Oregon was submitted to Professor Roderick 
Sprague, an expert on aboriginal burial practices in the Plateau 
culture area of North America with over 40 years of professional 
experience, for his review and assessment. On the basis of both the 
flexed position of the burial and the absence of grave goods, Dr. 
Sprague concluded that this set of human remains dates to the 
protohistoric period of from A.D. 1700-1800.
     Whitman Mission National Historic Site commemorates the history of 
a

[[Page 68161]]

mission established by Marcus and Narcissa Whitman in the 1830s on land 
that was primarily occupied by Cayuse Indians at the time. The site of 
the mission settlement is widely recognized as having been part of a 
larger aboriginal Cayuse territory and is within the judicially 
established area that is officially recognized as the Cayuse homeland. 
Immediately to the west of the Cayuse territory was the aboriginal 
homeland of the Walla Walla tribe. To the west of the Cayuse and 
southwest of the Walla Walla was the recognized aboriginal homeland of 
the Umatilla tribe. The Cayuse, the Walla Walla and the Umatilla are 
all constituent tribes of the present-day Confederated Tribes of the 
Umatilla Reservation, Oregon.
    Officials of Whitman Mission National Historic Site have determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001, Sec. 2 (9-10), the human remains 
listed above represent the physical remains of one individual of Native 
American ancestry. Lastly, officials of Whitman Mission National 
Historic Site have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001, Sec. 2 
(2), there is a relationship of shared group identity that can be 
reasonably traced between these Native American human remains and the 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with these human remains should contact 
Superintendent Francis T. Darby, Whitman Mission National Historic 
Site, 328 Whitman Mission Road, Walla Walla, Washington 99362-9699, 
telephone (509) 522-6360, before December 9, 2002. Repatriation of 
these human remains to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla 
Reservation, Oregon may begin after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    Whitman Mission National Historic Site is responsible for notifying 
the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: October 7, 2002.
Paula Molloy,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 02-28522 Filed 11-7-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-S