[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 212 (Thursday, November 2, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64561-64562]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-18479]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Thomas Burke Memorial Washington 
State Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, 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, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary 
objects in the control of the Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State 
Museum (Burke Museum), University of Washington, Seattle, WA. The human 
remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Yakima 
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 in 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 responsible for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Burke 
Museum professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon; and 
Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon.
    In 1959, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from Bergen site 30 at the junction of Wenas 
Creek and Yakima River, Yakima County, WA, by Dr. Harold Bergen, an 
avocational archeologist. In 1989, the human remains and cultural items 
were donated by Dr. Bergen to the Burke Museum (Burke Accn.  
1989-57). No known individual was identified. The 102 associated 
funerary objects are 1 basketry fragment, 2 unmodified stones, 46 
mammal remains, 1 point, 1 scraper, 49 shell and shell bead fragments, 
1 elk tooth pendant, and 1 utilized flake.
    The human remains were collected from a talus area in a shallow 
depression of a talus slide with basalt rocks mounded around the 
depression. Dr. Bergen excavated a single burial. The burial contained 
no evidence of burning, however, other burials at the site, but not 
removed, showed signs of burning and appeared to be cremations. This 
burial pattern is consistent with Yakama burial practices (Schuster 
1990: 338).
    The Yakama Treaty, signed on June 9, 1855, included the area 
surrounding the junction of Wenas Creek and Yakima River in the 
aboriginal territory of the present-day Confederated Tribes and Bands 
of the Yakama Nation, Washington. Other ethnographic and historic 
documentation confirms that this area is in the aboriginal territory of 
the Yakama (Daugherty 1973; Ray 1936; Schuster 1990). According to 
Swanton (1952), the Yakama group Si'la-hlama occupied the area along 
the Yakima River between Wenas Creek and Umtanum Creek. Furthermore, 
the Lower Yakama village ts'kik was located on the Yakima River, just 
downstream from the junction of Wenas Creek and the Yakima River. 
Descendants of the Yakama are members of the present-day Confederated 
Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington.
    Officials of the Burke Museum have determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains described above represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry. 
Officials of the Burke Museum also have determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 102 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 Burke Museum 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 Confederated Tribes and Bands 
of the Yakama Nation, Washington.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Dr. Peter Lape, Burke Museum, University of 
Washington, Box 353010,

[[Page 64562]]

Seattle, WA 98195-3010, telephone (206) 685-2282, before December 4, 
2006. Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington 
may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Burke Museum is responsible for notifying the Confederated 
Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes 
of the Colville Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the 
Umatilla Reservation, Oregon; and Confederated Tribes of the Warm 
Springs Reservation of Oregon that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 28, 2006
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E6-18479 Filed 11-1-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S