[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 128 (Thursday, July 3, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39965-39966]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-16805]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: American Museum of Natural 
History, New York, NY

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 American Museum of Natural History, 
New York, NY. The human remains and associated funerary objects were 
removed from a cave facing Crab Bay, Kruzof Island, Sitka Borough, AK.
    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 and associated funerary objects. The 
National Park Service is not

[[Page 39966]]

responsible for the determinations within this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by American 
Museum of Natural History professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes 
and Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
    In 1931, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were collected by six students of the Sheldon Jackson School from a 
cave facing Crab Bay, Kruzof Island, Sitka Borough, AK. W. Leslie Yaw, 
superintendent of the school, sold them to the American Museum of 
Natural History in 1932. No known individual was identified. The eight 
associated funerary objects are a carved bentwood box, the box lid, 
cord, matting cover, a raven's tail blanket fragment, shredded bark, 
and two digging sticks.
    The individual has been identified as Native American based on the 
American Museum of Natural History's documentation and geographic 
information. The original catalog describes the remains as ``Tlingit,'' 
and their geographic origin is consistent with the postcontact 
territory of the Sitka Tlingit (present-day Sitka Tribe of Alaska). 
Consultation information provided by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska 
indicates that the carving on the bentwood box represents the frog 
crest of the Sitka Kiks.adi clan. Raven's tail blankets, of the type 
found associated with this burial, were made by the Tlingit immediately 
prior to and at the time of contact with non-native traders and 
settlers. Scholarly publications and consultation information provided 
by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska indicate that the Sitka Kiks.adi clan 
inhabited Kruzof Island when Russians first arrived there. The Sitka 
Kiks.adi clan is represented by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
    Officials of the American Museum of Natural History have determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains described 
above represent the physical remains of a minimum of one individual of 
Native American ancestry. Officials of the American Museum of Natural 
History also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), 
the eight 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 
American Museum of Natural History 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 Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Luc Litwinionek, Director of Cultural Resources, 
American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, 
New York, NY 10024-5192, telephone (212) 769-5846, before August 4, 
2003. Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
to the Sitka Tribe of Alaska may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    The American Museum of Natural History is responsible for notifying 
Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes and Sitka Tribe of 
Alaska that this notice has been published.

    Dated: May 23, 2003.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources.
[FR Doc. 03-16805 Filed 7-2-03; 8:45 am]
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