[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 145 (Monday, July 30, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41525-41526]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-14613]


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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 the associated funerary objects were removed from 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 the 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.
    At an unknown time, human remains representing a minimum of three 
individuals were removed from the Old Man House area in Kitsap County, 
WA, by an unknown person. In 1995, the human remains were formally 
accessioned as ``found in collection'' (Burke Accn. 1995-64). 
No known individuals were identified. The two associated funerary 
objects are one bag of sediment and one piece of wood.
    Minimal museum documentation is associated with the human remains. 
The human remains were found in the Burke Museum's storage with a note 
indicating that they were found ``at/near O Man House'' and the name 
``A.S. McCrary'' with a Seattle address. It is unclear what 
relationship A.S. McCrary had to the human remains.
    At an unknown time, human remains representing a minimum of four 
individuals are reasonably believed to have been removed from the Old 
Man House area on the Suquamish Reservation, Kitsap County, WA. The 
human remains were formally accessioned as ``found in collection'' in 
1995 (Burke Accn. 1995-64). No known individuals were 
identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    Minimal museum documentation is associated with the human remains. 
The human remains were found in a box that contained artifacts from the 
Old Man

[[Page 41526]]

House area, but are not believed to be associated funerary objects.
    Archeological information suggests that the Old Man House site was 
used for over 2000 years. 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.
    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. The area surrounding the Old Man House area has been subject to 
many different forms of ownership including private property, state 
property, or reservation property. Based on the lack of definitive 
information of removal, the Burke Museum has proceeded as the 
responsible entity.
    At an unknown time, human remains representing a minimum of one 
individual were reasonably believed to have been removed from 
Suquamish, Kitsap County, WA, by an unknown person. Minimal museum 
documentation was associated with the human remains and they were 
formally accessioned as ``found in collection'' in 1995 (Burke Accn. 
1995-64). The 11 associated funerary objects are 2 pebbles, 1 
concretion, 2 lots of rodent feces, 4 stone flakes, 1 nut shell 
fragment, and 1 stone fragment.
    According to ethnographic documentation, the Suquamish tribe 
aboriginally occupied the area surrounding the town of Suquamish 
(Swanton 1952; Spier 1936). The Suquamish Reservation was established 
in the Point Elliott Treaty, which allocated the land where the town of 
Suquamish is currently located to the Suquamish tribe. The town of 
Suquamish is located less than a mile from the Old Man House site.
    Descendants of the Suquamish are members of the Suquamish Indian 
Tribe of the Port Madison Reservation, Washington. Based on 
geographical, archeological, historic, ethnographic, and morphological 
evidence, the human remains are determined to be Native American and 
culturally affiliated with the Suquamish Indian Tribe of the Port 
Madison Reservation, 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 eight individuals of Native American ancestry. 
Officials of the Burke Museum also have determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 13 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 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 Dr. Peter Lape, Burke Museum, University of 
Washington, Box 353010, Seattle, WA 98195-3010, telephone (206) 685-
2282, before August 29, 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 and 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: June 20, 2007.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-14613 Filed 7-27-07; 8:45 am]
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