[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 145 (Monday, July 30, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 41521]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-14580]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological 
Repository, Kodiak, AK

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 in the possession of 
Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, Kodiak, AK. The human 
remains were removed from Karluk, 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 in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native 
American human remains. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by Alutiiq 
Museum and Archaeological Repository professional staff in consultation 
with representatives of Koniag, Inc.
    In 1985, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from the Karluk One site (49-KAR-00001), also known as New 
Karluk, in Karluk, AK, at the mouth of the Karluk River, during an 
excavation led by Dr. Richard Jordan of Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, 
PA, with permission from the landowner, Koniag, Inc., an Alutiiq ANCSA 
corporation. The human remains were taken to the Hunter College 
Department of Anthropology in New York City for study and storage. In 
1999, Robert Kopperl, a graduate student at the University of 
Washington's Department of Anthropology, gained permission to move the 
faunal samples from New York to Seattle for use in his doctoral 
research. During Mr. Kopperl's analyses, the human remains were 
identified in the faunal samples. In July of 2006, the human remains 
were transferred to the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository. 
No known individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    In 1987, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from the Karluk One site (49-KAR-00001) during an 
excavation lead by Dr. Jordan of Bryn Mawr College with permission from 
the landowner, Koniag, Inc., an Alutiiq ANCSA corporation. The human 
remains were shipped to the Bryn Mawr College Department of 
Anthropology for study and storage following the excavation. In 1988, 
the human remains were shipped to the University of Alaska Fairbanks 
Department of Anthropology. Following Dr. Jordan's death in 1991, the 
human remains were transferred to the Kodiak Area Native Association's 
Alutiiq Culture Center. In April of 1995, the entire site collection 
was transferred to the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository 
(number AM193). The human remains were found during a collections 
storage improvement project in December of 2006. No known individual 
was identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    In the summer of 1994, human remains representing a minimum of one 
individual were removed from the Karluk One site (49-KAR-00001) during 
an excavation led by Rick Knecht of the Kodiak Area Native Association 
with funding and permission from the landowner, Koniag, Inc., an 
Alutiiq ANCSA corporation. Following the excavations, the human remains 
were taken to the Kodiak Area Native Association's Alutiiq Culture 
Center in Kodiak, AK, for study and storage. In April of 1995, the 
entire site collection was transferred to the Alutiiq Museum and 
Archaeological Repository (number AM193). The human remains were found 
during a collections storage improvement project in December of 2006. 
No known individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    Karluk One was once a massive Alutiiq village site on the south 
bank of Karluk Lagoon at the mouth of the Karluk River on southwestern 
Kodiak Island, AK. Archeological excavations between 1983 and 1995 
revealed a series of prehistoric sod houses (circa 700 to 200 years 
old) beneath the remains of an historic village occupied until 1979. 
The human remains from Karluk One are all from prehistoric contexts. 
Extensive carbon dating and typological studies indicate that the 
site's prehistoric deposits date to the Koniag tradition, the cultural 
tradition observed at historic contact and ancestral to modern 
Alutiiqs. The human remains are reasonably believed to be Native 
American and most closely affiliated with the Kodiak Alutiiq people. 
Specifically, the human remains were removed from an area of the 
archipelago traditionally used by the Native Village of Karluk.
    Officials of the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains 
described above represent the physical remains of at least three 
individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the Alutiiq 
Museum and Archaeological Repository 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 Native American 
human remains and the Native Village of Karluk and Koniag, Inc.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Dr. Sven 
Haakanson, Jr., Executive Director, Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological 
Repository, 215 Mission Rd., Suite 101, Kodiak, AK 99615, telephone 
(907) 486-7004, before August 29, 2007. Repatriation of the human 
remains to the Native Village of Karluk and Koniag, Inc. may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository is responsible for 
notifying the Native Village of Karluk and Koniag, Inc. that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: July 6, 2007.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-14580 Filed 7-27-07; 8:45 am]
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