[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 135 (Monday, July 14, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40371-40372]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-15902]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7, Anchorage, 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 and associated funerary 
objects in the possession of the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7, Anchorage, AK. The human remains 
and associated funerary objects were removed from Kagamil 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 U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service, Region 7 professional staff and forensic 
anthropologists from the University of Alaska, Anchorage, and with 
assistance from the Alaska State Office of History and Archaeology, in 
consultation with representatives of the Chaluka Corporation.
    Between 1947 and 1950, human remains representing a minimum of 30 
individuals were removed from Cold Cave on Kagamil Island, AK, by 
Theodore P. Bank II, an ethno-botanist, and William S. Laughlin, a 
physical anthropologist. The human remains were sent to the University 
of Michigan. In 1982, at the request of the Ounalashka Corporation and 
the National Park Service, the collection was moved to the University 
of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks. In 2002, the human remains and 
associated funerary artifacts were sent to The Museum of the Aleutians 
in Unalaska, AK, at the request of the Ounalashka Corporation and the 
museum. No known individuals were identified. The 127 associated 
funerary objects are 42 assorted bidarka pieces; 1 lot of wood 
fragments and other wooden objects; 1 wood bidarka paddle; 1 wooden 
spear shaft; 4 skin fragments from bidarka; 3 bone wedges; 1 bone 
bladder plug; 1 bone rack peg; 2 toggles; 3 bone points; 1 bone harpoon 
point; 1 bird bone awl; 2 bone awls; 1 digging tool; 1 bone fore-shaft; 
1 bone hook; 1 bone fishhook shank; 1 bone artifact; 6 bird bones; 1 
ivory labret; 1 walrus tusk; 1 curved antler fragment; 7 pieces of 
cordage; 1 cord wrapped with skin; 1 piece of matting with black 
decoration; 23 matting fragments; 1 piece of matting containing duff, 
wood and bones; 1 piece of matting with grass and hair; 2 loose human 
hairs; 1 lot of stuffing moss in unknown quantities; 1 grass bundle; 1 
lot of grass padding; 1 birch bark fragment; 1 stone chip; 1 obsidian 
point; 2 basalt points; 1 broken basalt blade; 1 worked pumice block; 2 
pieces of bird feather coat remains; and 2 sea otter pelt remains.
    Between 1947 and 1950, human remains representing a minimum of one 
individual were removed from Warm Cave on Kagamil Island, AK, by 
Theodore P. Bank II, an ethno-botanist, and William S. Laughlin, a 
physical anthropologist. The human remains were sent to the University 
of Michigan. In 1982, at the request of the Ounalashka Corporation and 
the National Park Service, the collection was moved to the University 
of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks. In 2002, the human remains and 
associated funerary artifacts were sent to The Museum of the Aleutians, 
at the request of the Ounalashka Corporation and the museum. No known 
individual was identified. The 23 associated funerary objects are 7 
round wooden shafts; 5 wood pieces; 2 wood pieces with thong attached; 
1 wooden piece bound with gut; 1 wood object with peg holes; 1 piece 
birch bark; 3 pieces of matting, hair and fiber; 1 piece of cordage; 1 
obsidian flake; and 1 worked shale fragment.
    Between 1947 and 1950, human remains representing a minimum of four 
individuals were removed from Mask Cave on Kagamil Island, AK, by 
Theodore P. Bank II, an ethno-botanist. The human remains were sent to 
the University of Michigan. In 1982, at the request of the Ounalashka 
Corporation and the National Park Service, the collection was moved to 
the University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks. In 2002, the human 
remains and associated funerary artifacts were sent to The Museum of 
the Aleutians, at the request of the Ounalashka Corporation and the

[[Page 40372]]

museum. No known individuals were identified. The 60 funerary objects 
are 3 complete or nearly complete painted wood masks; approximately 29 
mask fragments; 4 figurines and carved wooden objects; 17 bidarka 
pieces including a keel piece and a cross piece; 1 ivory labret; 1 
ivory needle; 2 stone artifacts; 1 basalt flake; 1 shell object; and 1 
lot of duff collected near a mask.
    All individuals found within these caves are believed to be 
associated with the modern day populations of Umnak Island and Chaluka 
Corporation. There are no radiocarbon dates available for the human 
remains. All known dated cave burials from the Aleutians are younger 
than 2,000 years old (Black 1982, pg 24; Black 2003, pg 36; Hayes 
2002). The human remains collected from burial caves on Kagamil Island 
were interred using traditional Aleut burial practices. The burial 
context and physical traits of the human remains are consistent with 
those observed for pre-contact Aleut populations. Skeletal morphology 
of present-day Aleut populations is similar to that of prehistoric 
Aleut populations and demonstrates biological affiliation between 
present-day Aleut groups and prehistoric populations in the Aleutian 
Islands.
    Analysis by the University of Alaska, Anchorage, with the 
assistance of the Alaska State Office of History and Archaeology, 
included cranio-metric analysis and non-metric analysis of the post 
cranial skeletal human remains. The use of radiography was used to 
determine the contents of a small mummy bundle from Warm Cave. Analysis 
of the human remains concluded that these individuals are all of Aleut 
origin and are related culturally and geographically to each other and 
to the modern day inhabitants of Umnak Island, which are members of the 
Chaluka Corporation and Native Village of Nikolski. Cultural 
affiliation between the late prehistoric populations on Kagamil Island 
and the Chaluka Corporation is demonstrated by recent historical 
records. The Islands of the Four Mountains were occupied by a 
culturally distinct group of which little is known. Contact with 
Russian explorers was made in A.D. 1741. In the late 1700s, with 
assistance from Russian explorers, the Umnak Aleuts waged war on the 
people of the Islands of Four Mountains and around A.D. 1766 to 1772, 
that group had been substantially destroyed. Survivors of the conflict 
were incorporated into villages on Umnak.
    Officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7 have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains 
described above represent the physical remains of 35 individuals of 
Native American ancestry. Officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Region 7 also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 
(3)(A), the 210 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 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7 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 Chaluka 
Corporation and Native Village of Nikolski.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Debra Corbett, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
1011 East Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99503, telephone (907) 786-3399, 
before August 13, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects to the Chaluka Corporation and Native 
Village of Nikolski may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7 is responsible for 
notifying the Chaluka Corporation and Native Village of Nikolski that 
this notice has been published.

    Dated: June 5, 2008
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-15902 Filed 7-11-08; 8:45 am]
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