[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 104 (Wednesday, June 1, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31527-31528]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-10800]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Oregon State Museum of 
Anthropology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology, 
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR (museum that has control of the 
cultural items), determined that the physical remains of 10 individuals 
of Native American ancestry and approximately 331 associated funerary 
objects in the museum's collections, described below in Information 
about cultural items, are culturally affiliated with the Coquille Tribe 
of Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw 
Indians of Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde Community of 
Oregon; and Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon.
    The National Park Service publishes this notice on behalf of the 
museum as part of the National Park Service's administrative 
responsibilities under NAGPRA. The museum is solely responsible for 
information and determinations stated in this notice. The National Park 
Service is not responsible for the museum's determinations.
    Information about NAGPRA is available online at http://www.cr.nps.gov/nagpra.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items to the Indian tribes listed 
above in Summary may proceed after July 1, 2005, if no additional 
claimants come forward. Representatives of any other Indian tribe that 
believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the cultural items 
should contact the museum before July 1, 2005.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Authority. 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq. and 43 CFR 
Part 10.
    Contact. Contact C. Melvin Aikens, Oregon State Museum of 
Anthropology, 1224 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1224, 
telephone (541) 346-5115, regarding determinations stated in this 
notice or to claim the cultural items described in this notice.
    Consultation. The museum identified the cultural items and the 
cultural affiliation of the cultural items in consultation with 
representatives of the Coquille Tribe of Oregon; Confederated Tribes of 
the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians of Oregon; Confederated 
Tribes of the Grande Ronde Community of Oregon; and Confederated Tribes 
of the Siletz Reservation, Oregon.
    Information about cultural items. In 1938, human remains 
representing a minimum of four individuals were removed from three 
burials during excavations by University of Oregon staff at site 35SC3, 
Bullards Beach, Coos County, OR. The status of the land at the time of 
removal is unknown. The museum accessioned the human remains into the 
collection in 1939. No known individuals were identified. The 75 
associated funerary objects are pine nut beads.
    Site 35SC3 is a habitation site that probably dates to the middle 
of the 19th century. The published site report states that the three 
burials were interred underneath decayed wood planks, but remnants of 
the planks apparently were not collected.
    In 1952, human remains representing a minimum of two individuals 
were removed from site 35CS5, Bullards Beach, Coos County, OR, during 
excavations by University of Oregon staff. The status of the land at 
the time of removal is unknown. The museum accessioned the human 
remains into the collection in 1959. No known individuals were 
identified. The approximately 250 associated funerary objects include 
glass and dentalium shell beads and cedar plank fragments.
    In 1954, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from site 35CS5, Bullards Beach, Coos County, OR, and 
donated the same year to the museum by local residents. The status of 
the land at the time of removal is unknown. The names of the residents 
are withheld by the museum. No known individual was identified. The two 
associated funerary objects are one stone scraper and one blue glass 
bead.
    At an unknown date, human remains representing one individual were 
recovered by an unknown party from site 35CS5, Bullards Beach, Coos 
County, OR, and were accessioned into the collection at an unknown 
date. The status of the land at the time of removal is unknown. No 
known individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    The presence of the Euroamerican beads at site 35CS5 dates the 
human remains that were removed in 1952 and 1954 to the Protohistoric 
or Historic period.
    In 1969, human remains representing a minimum of two individuals 
were removed from the vicinity of the Coquille River, Coos County, OR, 
by the Coos County sheriff, who discovered the human remains exposed by 
flooding. The status of the land at the time of removal is unknown. The 
sheriff donated the human remains to the museum the same year. The 
museum inventoried two sets of human remains attributed to site 35CS1 
at Bandon, Coos County, OR, which is several miles north of Bullards 
Beach, Coos County, OR, on the Coquille River. No information is 
available regarding the date that the human remains were removed from 
site 35CS1, or when the human remains were accessioned into the museum. 
The museum considers it likely that the inventoried human remains from 
site 35CS1 are the same human remains that the sheriff removed in 1969, 
although due to cataloging problems this interpretation cannot be 
established with certainty. While no associated funerary objects are 
identified in museum records, copper buttons and a whale bone fragment 
are stored with the human remains. Based on the appearance of copper 
staining on the human bone, the museum has determined that the objects 
are funerary objects associated with the human remains. No known 
individuals were identified. The four associated funerary objects are 
three copper buttons and one whale bone fragment.
    The funerary objects associated with the human remains indicate a 
Contact period age.
    Based on associated funerary objects, archeological context, and 
skeletal morphology, the human remains have been determined to be 
Native American. Historic documents, continuities of material culture, 
ethnographic sources, and oral history indicate the Coquille people 
have occupied the Bullards and Bandon areas since precontact times.
    Determinations. Under 25 U.S.C. 3003, museum officials determined 
that the human remains represent the physical remains of 10 individuals 
of Native American ancestry. Museum officials determined that the 
approximately 331 objects 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. Museum officials determined that 
the human

[[Page 31528]]

remains and associated funerary objects are culturally affiliated with 
the Indian tribes listed in Summary.
    Notification. The museum is responsible for sending a copy of this 
notice to the consulted Indian tribes listed above in Consultation.

    Dated: May 20, 2005
Paul Hoffman,
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fish and Wildlife and Parks
[FR Doc. 05-10800 Filed 5-31-05; 8:45 am]
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