[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 95 (Thursday, May 17, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27847-27848]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-9452]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Washington State Parks and 
Recreation Commission, Olympia, WA and 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 Washington State Parks and Recreation 
Commission, Olympia, WA and in the physical custody 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 Old Man House State Park, Kitsap 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 Washington 
State Parks and Recreation Commission and Burke Museum professional 
staff in consultation with representatives of the Port Gamble Indian 
Community of the Port Gamble Reservation, Washington and Suquamish 
Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation, Washington.
    In 1951, human remains representing a minimum of three individuals 
were removed from Old Man House (45-KP-2) in Kitsap County, WA, by 
Warren Snyder, as part of a University of Washington field expedition. 
The human remains were transferred to the Burke Museum where they were 
later accessioned (Burke Accn. 1966-81). No known individuals 
were identified. The 29 associated funerary objects are 28 shells and 1 
cedar wood fragment.
    Archeological information suggests that the Old Man House site was 
used for over 2000 years. The human remains were buried in a semi-
flexed position and covered with red ochre. One burial had a group of 
dentalium shells placed over the individual. The burial practices are 
consistent with burial practices of the Puget Sound Coast Salish.
    The Lushootseed name for the Old Man House site is D'Suq'wub. 
Members of the Suquamish tribe speak the Lushootseed language. The site 
is also the location of the long house where ``Chief'' Sealth, also 
known as Chief Seattle, a leader of the Suquamish, once lived. The 
earliest written ethnographic information describing the longhouse 
referred to as Old Man House was by George Gibbs in 1855. Descendants 
of the Puget Sound Coast Salish and Suquamish are members of the

[[Page 27848]]

Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation, Washington.
    In 1855, the Point Elliot Treaty allocated the land where Old Man 
House was to the Suquamish. The Suquamish were later removed from these 
lands in 1904 and 1905, when the United States government seized the 
land. By 1950, Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission 
acquired the land where site 45-KP-2 is located.
    Based on archeological, historic, ethnographic, and morphological 
evidence the human remains are determined to be culturally affiliated 
with the Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation, 
Washington.
    Officials of the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission 
and Burke Museum have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-
10), the human remains described above represent the physical remains 
of three individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the 
Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission and Burke Museum also 
have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 29 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 Washington State 
Parks and Recreation Commission and 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 Suquamish Indian 
Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation, Washington.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Cindy Sulenes Farr, Washington State Parks & 
Recreation Commission, 7150 Cleanwater Lane, P.O. Box 42650, Olympia, 
WA 98504, telephone (360) 902-8623 before June 18, 2007. Repatriation 
of the human remains and associated funerary objects to the Suquamish 
Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation, Washington may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Burke Museum is responsible for notifying the Port Gamble 
Indian Community of the Port Gamble Reservation, Washington and 
Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation, Washington that 
this notice has been published.

    Dated: March 15, 2007.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-9452 Filed 5-16-07; 8:45 am]
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