[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 164 (Friday, August 24, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 48668]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-16776]


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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 the 
Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, Kodiak, AK. The human 
remains were removed from Uyak Bay, Kodiak Island, 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. and Native Village of Larsen Bay.
    In 1987, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from 49-KOD-00343, Uyak Bay in the Kodiak archipelago, AK, 
during a faunal collection survey conducted by students from Bryn Mawr 
College under the direction of Dr. Richard Jordan, Bryn Mawr College, 
Bryn Mawr, PA. 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 AM91). The human remains were found 
during a collections reorganization project in June of 2007. No known 
individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    Site 49-KOD-00343 is a prehistoric settlement that lies on the 
shore of a broad cove, on the western shore of inner Ugak Bay, 
southwest of the Alf islands, on the southwestern coast of Alaska's 
Kodiak archipelago. The site holds a cluster of multi-roomed house 
depressions surrounded by 50 - 60 cm of steam bath rubble-filled shell 
midden deposits, indicative of the late prehistoric Koniag tradition, 
the cultural era that directly preceded European contact. As such, the 
human remains are reasonably believed to be Native American and most 
closely related to the contemporary Kodiak Alutiiq people. 
Specifically, the human remains are from an area of the Kodiak 
archipelago traditionally used by members of Koniag, Inc. and Native 
Village of Larsen Bay.
    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 one individual 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 
Koniag, Inc. and Native Village of Larsen Bay.
    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 September 24, 2007. Repatriation of the human 
remains to Koniag, Inc. and Native Village of Larsen Bay may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository is responsible for 
notifying Koniag, Inc. and Native Village of Larsen Bay that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: August 6, 2007.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-16776 Filed 8-23-07; 8:45 am]
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