[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 164 (Friday, August 24, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48667-48668]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-16783]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Alaska State Office of History 
and Archaeology, Anchorage, AK and 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 control of the 
Alaska State Office of History and Archaeology, Anchorage, AK and in 
the possession of the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, 
Kodiak, AK. The human remains were removed from Midway Point (49-KOD-
00303), 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 on behalf of 
the Alaska State Office of History and Archaeology by Alutiiq Museum 
and Archaeological Repository professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of Koniag, Inc.; Lesnoi Village (aka Woody Island); 
Natives of Kodiak, Inc.; and Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak (formerly the 
Shoonaq' Tribe of Kodiak).
    In 1990, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from an unknown site (probably 49-KOD-00303) near Chiniak, 
AK, by a collector and turned over to the Alaska State Troopers. The 
Alaska State Troopers sent the human remains to Anchorage for 
examination by a professional archeologist at the State Office of 
History and Archaeology and determined to be prehistoric. The human 
remains were returned to the Alaska State Troopers, who deposited them 
in the care of the Kodiak Area Native Association's Alutiiq Culture 
Center in 1991. In 1995, the human remains were transferred to the 
Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository where they are currently 
stored (accession number AM92). No known individual was identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    The likely origin of the human remains is 49-KOD-00303, a 
prehistoric archeological site on the south shore of Chiniak Bay in 
Alaska's Kodiak archipelago. Site 49-KOD-00303 contains extensive, 
well-preserved midden deposits, covering more than an acre. Physical 
anthropological findings and the likely origins of the human remains 
suggest that they represent a prehistoric Kodiak Alutiiq person. Many 
Kodiak archeologists believe that the region's cultural sequence 
represents a 7,500 year period of evolutionary growth with the earliest 
colonizers evolving into the Alutiiq societies recorded at historic 
contact. As such, the human remains are reasonably believed to be 
Native American and most closely affiliated with the contemporary 
Native residents of the Kodiak archipelago, the Kodiak Alutiiq. 
Specifically, the human remains were recovered from an area 
traditionally used by members of the Koniag, Inc.; Leisnoi, Inc.; 
Lesnoi Village (aka Woody Island); Natives of Kodiak, Inc.; and Sun'aq 
Tribe of Kodiak.
    Officials of the Alaska State Office of History and Archaeology and 
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 Alaska State Office of History and 
Archaeology and 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 Koniag, Inc.; 
Leisnoi, Inc.; Lesnoi Village (aka Woody Island); Natives of

[[Page 48668]]

Kodiak, Inc.; and Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak.
    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 the Koniag, Inc.; Leisnoi, Inc.; Lesnoi Village (aka Woody 
Island); Natives of Kodiak, Inc.; and Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak may 
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository is responsible for 
notifying Koniag, Inc.; Leisnoi, Inc.; Lesnoi Village (aka Woody 
Island); Natives of Kodiak, Inc.; and Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: August 7, 2007.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-16783 Filed 8-23-07; 8:45 am]
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