[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 101 (Friday, May 23, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30158-30159]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-11571]


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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), Seattle, WA. The human remains and associated 
funerary objects were removed from Guss Island, San Juan 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 and associated funerary 
objects was made by Burke Museum and San Juan Island National 
Historical Park professional staff in consultation with representatives 
of the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation, Washington; Samish Indian 
Tribe, Washington; and Swinomish Indians of the Swinomish Reservation, 
Washington.
    In 1926, human remains were removed from Guss Island in San Juan 
County, WA, by A.G. Colley, during an excavation, as part of a museum 
sponsored expedition and were formally accessioned by the museum (Burke 
Accn. 2126). The whereabouts of two sets of human remains are 
unknown. The remaining two sets of human remains were legally 
transferred to Central Washington University in 1974. National Park 
Service reasserted control over the human remains upon learning they 
were removed from National Park Service property in 1996 and 2007. In 
2007, the Burke Museum and National Park Service agreed that the 
removal of the human remains from Guss Island predated the 
establishment of the San Juan Island National Historical Park, which 
was created in 1966, and should not have been transferred to the 
National Park Service. The human remains were placed under the control 
of the Burke Museum. No known individuals were identified. The six 
funerary objects are three slate knives and three unmodified stones.
    The prehistory of the region, based on archeological research and 
analysis, indicates continuous habitation from approximately 2,000 
years ago through the mid-19th century by Northern Straits peoples who 
were part of a Central Coast Salish population that were ancestral to 
the Lummi Tribe. Anthropological research in the late 1940s by Wayne 
Suttles indicates that the Lummi occupied San Juan Island and other 
nearby islands in the contact period, including Guss Island. 
Archeological information in the original field notes indicates that 
Native American canoe burials were present on Guss Island in the late 
1800s. Based upon the geographic, archeological, and accession 
documentation, the two individuals from Guss Island are of Native 
American ancestry. Guss Island is within the aboriginal territory of 
the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation, Washington. Lummi oral 
tradition and anthropological data clearly associate the Lummi with San 
Juan Island and other nearby islands (Suttles 1951, 1990). The evidence 
indicates that the members of the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation, 
Washington are culturally affiliated with the human remains and 
associated funerary objects from Guss Island.
    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 two individuals of Native American ancestry. 
Officials of the Burke Museum also have determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the six objects described above are reasonably 
believed to have been place 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 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 associated funerary objects and the Lummi Tribe of 
the Lummi 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 June 23, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects to the

[[Page 30159]]

Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation, Washington may proceed after that 
date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Burke Museum is responsible for notifying the Lummi Tribe of 
the Lummi Reservation, Washington; Samish Indian Tribe, Washington; and 
Swinomish Indians of the Swinomish Reservation, Washington that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: April 29, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manger, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-11571 Filed 5-22-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S