[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 250 (Friday, December 29, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78461-78462]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-22345]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of 
Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, Portland, OR and 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon

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. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate cultural items in the possession of the Confederated 
Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon, and in the control of the 
U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, 
Portland, OR, that meet the definition of ``unassociated funerary 
objects'' under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 cultural 
items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    Between 1948 and 1986, the Old Town Umatilla Townsite (35 UM 1/35 
UM 35) underwent various and extensive excavations by multiple 
entities. Since 1976, the human remains and funerary objects have 
undergone multiple re-interments and repatriations to the Confederated 
Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon. In 2005, a bag was located 
in collections labeled as being removed from the Old Town Umatilla 
Townsite cemetery area, Umatilla County, OR. The 19 unassociated 
funerary objects are 1 harpoon point, 1 utilized flake, 1 bone awl, 5 
projectile points, 1 projectile point fragment, 1 knife, 1 knife 
fragment, 1 metal rod, 1 pounding stone, 2 uniface choppers, 1 flake, 1 
fishbone, 1 charcoal, and 1 shell.
    The human remains with which the cultural items were originally 
associated were previously published in a Notice of Inventory 
Completion in the Federal Register on April 25, 2003, (FR Doc 03-10029, 
pages 20406-20407), and were physically repatriated to the Confederated 
Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon on June 13, 2003. Since the 
human remains are no longer in the control of the Army Corps of 
Engineers, Portland District, the cultural items in this notice meet 
the definition of unassociated funerary objects under NAGPRA. On 
February 21, 2006 the tribe submitted a claim to the Army Corps of 
Engineers, Portland District for the newly discovered unassociated 
funerary items.
    The Old Town Umatilla site was first occupied in 470 B.C. and is 
considered to be a prehistoric and historic Umatilla village. The site 
served as a major winter village of the Umatilla Indians during late 
prehistoric times, and includes a cemetery that dates from 
approximately 500 B.C. to A.D. 1700. The site lies within the 
traditional lands of the present-day Confederated Tribes of the 
Umatilla Reservation, Oregon.
    Officials of the Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the 19 cultural 
items 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 and are believed, by a preponderance of 
the evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a 
Native American individual. Officials of the Army Corps of Engineers, 
Portland District 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 unassociated funerary objects and the 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Mr. Robert Willis, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland 
District, P.O. Box 2946,

[[Page 78462]]

Portland, OR 97208-2946, telephone (503) 808-4760 before January 29, 
2007. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary objects to the 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District is responsible for 
notifying the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: November 21, 2006
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E6-22345 Filed 12-28-06; 8:45 am]
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