[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62531-62532]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-24967]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Defense, Army 
Corps of Engineers, Portland District, Portland, OR and University of 
Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Eugene, OR

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 for which the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and 
Cultural History, Eugene, OR, and U.S. Department of Defense, Army 
Corps of Engineers, Portland District, Portland, OR, have joint 
responsibility. The human remains and associated funerary objects were 
removed from sites on Army Corps of Engineers land within the The 
Dalles Lock and Dam Project area, Wasco County, OR.
    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 was made by the 
University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History and U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District professional staff in 
consultation with representatives of the Confederated Tribes of the 
Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon and Confederated Tribes and Bands of 
the Yakama Nation, Washington.
    Native American cultural items described in this notice were 
excavated under Antiquities Act permits by the University of Oregon, 
Eugene, OR, on Army Corps of Engineers project lands. Following 
excavations at the sites described below, and under the provisions of 
the permits, the University of Oregon was allowed to retain the 
collections for preservation.
    In 1956, human remains representing a minimum of three individuals 
were removed from site 35-WS-1/WS-2, also known as the Big Eddy Site, 
Wasco County, OR, during excavations conducted by the University of 
Oregon prior to construction of The Dalles Dam. No known individuals 
were identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    Site 35-WS-1/WS-2 is located 5 miles east of the city of The 
Dalles, OR, on the south shore of the Columbia River. The site is 
described as a Wasco village and midden site dating from the Late 
Prehistoric through Historic periods. Based on the location of the 
human remains within the site, the individuals have been determined to 
be Native American.
    In 1954, human remains representing a minimum of eight individuals 
were removed from the Five Mile Rapids Site (35-WS-4), on the south 
shore of the Columbia River within The Dalles Lock and Dam Project 
area, Wasco County, OR, by the University of Oregon in conjunction with 
studies undertaken prior to the construction of The Dalles Dam. No 
known individuals were identified. The 515 associated funerary objects 
are 1 knife blade; 2 knives with wooden handles; 1 knife with a bone 
handle; 1 knife with a copper handle; 1 adze blade; 1 iron hatchet 
head; 1 projectile point fragment; 2 sturgeon hooks; 2 eyelets with 
springs; 2 composite harpoons; 1 fish scaler; 1 copper handle fragment; 
10 decorated copper disks; 3 undecorated copper disks; 36 copper 
buttons; 1 phoenix button; 1 ring around a bear claw; 371 glass beads; 
1 shell bead; 30 dentalium beads; 1 fragmentary copper tube bead; 3 
stone beads; 1 bone bead; 1 lot of assorted beads, nails, and glass 
specimens; 1 reed fragment; 9 elk tooth ornaments; 7 complete and 
fragmentary dentalium shells; 3 carved bone fragments; 1 steatite cup; 
1 steatite pipe; 1 Northwest Company token; 2 red

[[Page 62532]]

ochre specimens; 1 iron ore specimen; 4 mirror and glass fragments; 2 
petrified wood pieces; 2 antler pieces; 1 container of wood, bone, 
iron, and lead pieces; 1 bag of cut bone and wood pieces; 1 bag of wood 
pieces; 1 lock of hair; 1 lot of fragmentary iron strips; and 1 lot of 
bark fragments.
    Site 35-WS-4, sometimes referred to as 35-WS-8 or The Dalles 
Roadcut Site, is located approximately 2 miles northeast of The Dalles 
Dam at what was once the headwaters of (the now-inundated) Five Mile 
Rapids. The Five Mile Rapids Site is described as a possible village 
site dating to between 11,000 B.P. and historic times. The site was 
last occupied in the 19th Century as a Tenino summer fishing village. 
Based on the associated funerary objects, the human remains have been 
determined to be Native American.
    In 1954, human remains representing a minimum of seven individuals 
were removed from site 35-WS-5, Wasco County, OR, during excavations 
conducted by the University of Oregon prior to construction of The 
Dalles Dam. Two additional individuals were removed at a later, unknown 
date, possibly during salvage operations in 1961. No known individuals 
were identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    Site 35-WS-5 is located on the south shore of the Columbia River, 
approximately 2 miles east of The Dalles Dam. The site is described as 
a permanent village that was occupied prior to A.D. 1800. The site was 
inundated by Lake Celilo after the construction of The Dalles Lock and 
Dam. Based on osteological evidence and the location of the human 
remains within the site, the individuals have been determined to be 
Native American.
    The sites described above are within the traditional lands of the 
present-day Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of 
Oregon, which is composed of three Wasco bands, four Warm Springs bands 
and Northern Paiutes. The Columbia River-based Wasco were the 
easternmost group of Chinookan-speaking Indians. The Sahaptin-speaking 
Warm Springs bands lived farther east along the Columbia River and its 
tributaries. Northern Paiutes, who spoke a Uto-Aztecan language, 
historically occupied much of southeastern Oregon. The Confederated 
Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon peoples also 
traditionally shared the site area with relatives and neighbors whose 
descendants may be culturally affiliated with the 14 Sahaptin, Salish 
and Chinookan-speaking tribes and bands of the present-day Confederated 
Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington. Yakama homelands 
were traditionally located on the Washington side of the Columbia River 
between the eastern flanks of the Cascade Range and the lower reaches 
of the Yakima River drainage.
    Officials of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District 
have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human 
remains described above represent the physical remains of 20 
individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers, Portland District have also determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 515 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. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Portland District 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 Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs 
Reservation of Oregon and/or Confederated Tribes and Bands of the 
Yakama Nation, Washington.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Daniel Mulligan, NAGPRA Coordinator, 
Environmental Resources Branch, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland 
District, P.O. Box 2946, Portland, OR 97208-2946, telephone (503) 808-
4768, before November 20, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects to the Confederated Tribes of the Warm 
Springs Reservation of Oregon and/or Confederated Tribes and Bands of 
the Yakama Nation, Washington may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District is responsible 
for notifying the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation 
of Oregon and Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, 
Washington that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 10, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-24967 Filed 10-20-08; 8:45 am]
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