[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 197 (Thursday, October 9, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59668-59669]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-23955]


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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, 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 U.S. 
Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7, 
Anchorage, AK, and in the possession of the Alutiiq Museum and 
Archaeological Repository, Kodiak, AK. The human remains were removed 
from Chief Cove Island, 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 the Alutiiq 
Museum and Archaeological Repository professional staff on behalf of 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7, in consultation with 
representatives of Koniag, Inc., Native Village of Larsen Bay, and 
Native Village of Port Lions.
    In 1977, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from 49-KOD-00172, an archeological site on Chief Cove 
Island, in the Kodiak Island Borough, AK, during testing of the site by 
Mike Nowak, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service archeologist. Following the 
excavation, materials from the site were housed at the University of 
Alaska Fairbanks Museum, then transferred to the University of Alaska's 
Department of Anthropology under the care of Dr. Richard Jordan. 
Sometime between 1988 and 1991, it is believed that Dr. Jordan 
inadvertently shipped the human remains to the Hunter College 
Department of Anthropology with faunal samples intended for analysis. 
In 2000, Robert Kopperl, a graduate student of University of 
Washington, Department of Anthropology, gained permission to move the 
49-KOD-00172 faunal samples from Hunter College to Seattle, as part of 
his dissertation research project. During unpacking of the collection, 
the human remains were identified. In July of 2006, the human remains 
were hand carried from Seattle to the Alutiiq Museum by a visiting 
researcher. The Alutiiq Museum is a regional research facility governed 
by representatives of Kodiak's Alutiiq Corporations, and as such, 
represents all of the Alutiiq people of the Kodiak region and agreed to 
care for the human remains and to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service to complete the necessary NAGPRA consultation to determine 
their appropriate disposition. No known individual was identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    Site 49-KOD-00172 is a large prehistoric settlement on Chief Cove 
Island at the entrance to Spiridon Bay, an arm of the Uyak Bay, in 
Alaska's Kodiak Archipelago. Stratigraphic observations, cultural 
materials, and carbon dates indicate that the site contains deposits 
spanning at least 2,000 years, from both the Late Kachemak and Koniag 
traditions. Archeological data indicate that modern Alutiiqs evolved 
from these archeologically documented societies. As such, the human 
remains from 49-KOD-00172 are likely Native American and most closely 
affiliated with the modern Kodiak Alutiiq people. According to 
guidelines of the Kodiak Alutiiq Repatriation Commission, the 
culturally related groups for the area of Chief Cove Island are the 
Koniag, Inc., Native Village of Larsen Bay, and Native Village of Port 
Lions. Specifically, Chief Cove Island falls within the area 
traditionally used by the Native Village of Larsen Bay.
    Officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7 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 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7 and 
Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository also have determined that,

[[Page 59669]]

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 Koniag, Inc., 
Native Village of Larsen Bay, and Native Village of Port Lions.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7, Archaeologist Debbie Corbett, 1011 
East Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99503, telephone (907) 786-3399, before 
November 10, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains to the Koniag, 
Inc., Native Village of Larsen Bay, and Native Village of Port Lions 
may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for notifying the 
Koniag, Inc., Native Village of Larsen Bay, and Native Village of Port 
Lions that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 16, 2008
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-23955 Filed 10-8-08; 8:45 am]
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