[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 139 (Friday, July 18, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41379-41380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-16482]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
National Park Service, San Juan Island National Historical Park, Friday 
Harbor, WA and 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 possession of the Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State 
Museum (Burke Museum), University of Washington, Seattle, WA, and in 
the control of the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park 
Service, San Juan Island National Historical Park, Friday Harbor, WA. 
The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from 
four prehistoric archeological sites within the boundaries of San Juan 
Island National Historical Park, 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 
superintendent, San Juan Island National Historical Park.
    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 1946 and 1947, human remains representing a minimum of four 
individuals were removed from the Cattle Point Site (45-SJ-01) on San 
Juan Island in San Juan County, WA, during legally authorized 
excavations by University of Washington archeologist Arden King. Cattle 
Point is within the American Camp portion of San Juan Island National 
Historical Park on the southern part of San Juan Island. The human 
remains and associated funerary objects were transferred to the Burke 
Museum and accessioned by the National Park Service. No known 
individuals were identified. The two associated funerary objects are 
mammal bone fragments.
    In 1950, human remains representing a minimum of two individuals 
were removed from the Guss Island Site (45-SJ-21) in San Juan County, 
WA, during legally authorized excavations as a part of University of 
Washington Field Project led by Adan Treganza. The human remains were 
transferred to the Burke Museum and accessioned by the National Park 
Service. No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary 
objects are present.
    In 1983, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from the Guss Island Site (45-SJ-21) in San Juan County, 
WA, during legally authorized excavations by University of Washington 
Professor Julie Stein. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were transferred to the Burke Museum and accessioned by the 
National Park Service. Guss Island is a small island in Garrison Bay 
and is within the English Camp portion of San Juan Island National 
Historical Park on the northwestern part of San Juan Island. No known 
individual was identified. The nine associated funerary objects are one 
deer vertebra fragment, one deer tibia, one bird coracoid bone, one 
bird humerus, two fish bones, and three pieces of fire modified rock.
    In 1950, human remains representing a minimum of seven individuals 
were removed from the English Camp Site (45-SJ-24) in San Juan County, 
WA, during a University of Washington summer field school directed by 
Professor Adan Treganza of San Francisco State University. The human 
remains and associated funerary objects were transferred to the Burke 
Museum and accessioned by the National Park Service. No known 
individuals were identified. The 33 associated funerary objects are 1 
broken chipped stone projectile point and 32 non-human bone fragments.
    In 1970, 1971, and 1972, human remains representing a minimum of 
eight individuals were removed from the English Camp Site in San Juan 
County, WA, during University of Idaho field schools directed by Dr. 
Roderick Sprague. The human remains and associated funerary objects 
were transferred to the Burke Museum and accessioned by the National 
Park Service. No known individuals were identified. The 61 associated 
funerary objects are 1 splinter awl made from deer bone, 1 tip of an 
antler tine, 1 square nail fragment, 1 wood fragment, 1 Horse Clam 
shell fragment, 6 basalt flakes, and 50 non-human skeletal fragments 
and non-human teeth.
    In 1984, 1988, and 1990, human remains representing a minimum of 
five individuals were removed from the English Camp Site in San Juan 
County, WA, during legally authorized excavations by Professor Julie 
Stein of the University of Washington. The human remains and associated 
funerary objects were transferred to the Burke Museum and accessioned 
by the National Park Service. No known individuals were identified. The 
27 associated funerary objects are non-human bone fragments.
    In 1951, human remains representing a minimum of seven individuals 
were removed from the North Garrison Bay

[[Page 41380]]

Site (45-SJ-25) in San Juan County, WA, during a summer field school in 
archeology under the direction of Professor Carroll Burroughs of the 
University of Washington. The North Garrison Bay Site is a prehistoric 
village site north of both the Guss Island Site and English Camp Site 
referred to previously. The fragmentary human remains were transferred 
to the Burke Museum and accessioned by the National Park Service. No 
known individuals were identified. The eight associated funerary 
objects are one shell fragment, one fused non-human radius and ulna, 
one deer ulna, one carnivore mandible fragment, one non-human rib 
fragment, and three lots of organic matter.
    Based upon non-destructive osteological analysis, archeological 
data, geographic context and accession data, the 34 individuals from 
the four San Juan Island sites are of Native American ancestry. Arden 
King's analysis of archeological data from Cattle Point resulted in the 
identification of three prehistoric phases, with the most recent 
representing a maritime adaptation that is ancestral to historic native 
populations in the United States and Canada. Archeological research and 
analysis indicates continuous habitation of San Juan Island, including 
the four sites mentioned here, from approximately 2,000 years ago 
through the mid-19th century. Anthropologist Wayne Suttles has 
identified the occupants of San Juan Island as Northern Straits 
language-speaking people, a linguistic subset of a larger Central Coast 
Salish population, who were ancestors of the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi 
Reservation, Washington. Furthermore, Suttles' anthropological research 
in the late 1940s confirmed that the Lummi primarily occupied San Juan 
Island and other nearby islands in the contact period and during the 
early history of the Lummi Reservation that was established on the 
mainland in 1855 through Article II of the Treaty of Point Elliott. San 
Juan Island is within the aboriginal territory of the Lummi Tribe of 
the Lummi Reservation, Washington. Lummi oral tradition, history and 
anthropological data clearly associate the Lummi with San Juan Island.
    The Samish Indian Tribe, Washington is closely associated with the 
Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation, Washington linguistically and 
culturally, and the Samish regard San Juan Island to be within the 
usual and accustomed territory shared by both tribes at the time of the 
Point Elliott Treaty negotiations in 1855. In 2006, the Samish Indian 
Tribe, Washington and the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation, 
Washington entered into a cooperative agreement to have the Lummi Tribe 
of the Lummi Reservation, Washington take the lead in receiving 
repatriated human remains and funerary objects from San Juan Island 
National Historical Park. The traditional territory of the Swinomish 
Indians of the Swinomish Reservation, Washington is on the mainland in 
the vicinity of La Conner, WA, on Whidbey Island and Fidalgo Island, 
the site of their reservation.
    Officials of San Juan Island National Historical Park have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains 
described above represent the physical remains of 34 individuals of 
Native American ancestry. Officials of San Juan Island National 
Historical Park also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 
(3)(A), the 140 associated funerary objects 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 San Juan Island National Historical Park 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 Peter Dederich, superintendent, San Juan Island 
National Historical Park, P.O. Box 429, Friday Harbor, WA 98250-04289, 
telephone (360) 378-2240, before August 18, 2008. Repatriation of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to the Lummi Tribe of the 
Lummi Reservation, Washington may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    San Juan Island National Historical Park 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: June 10, 2008
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-16482 Filed 7-17-08; 8:45 am]
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