[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 85 (Friday, May 2, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 23490]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-10912]



[[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]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-S