[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62529-62530]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-24973]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: 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. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate cultural items, 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, that meet the definition of ``unassociated 
funerary objects'' under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 cultural 
items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    In 1952, cultural items were removed from site 35-WS-5, Wasco 
County, OR, during the River Basin Survey Party excavations conducted 
prior to construction of The Dalles Dam. The cultural items were later 
accessioned by the University of Oregon Museum (Museum Catalog No. 1-
22725 to 1-22731). The seven unassociated funerary objects are one pipe 
fragment, one stone bead, one scraper, one drill fragment, one worked 
pebble, one unidentified ``fragment,'' and one lot of glass beads.
    According to the project report authored by J.L. Shiner, the 
objects were not considered grave goods nor evidence of burials, 
inhumations and/or cremations. However, museum catalog records list the 
artifacts as being associated with a ``surface cremation site;'' 
subsequent excavations conducted in 1954 and 1961 revealed that burials 
and human remains were also present. More-specific provenience 
information for the cultural items has not been determined because the 
original project field notes are unavailable for review. Based on 
museum records and subsequent excavations, the cultural items are 
reasonably believed to be unassociated funerary objects.

[[Page 62530]]

    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 Wasco 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. The burial pattern observed within the site is consistent 
with customs of Columbia Plateau Native American groups. Ethnographic 
and museum records indicate that the cultural items are consistent with 
cultural objects typically found in context with burials characteristic 
of the Mid-Columbia River Basin.
    Site 35-WS-5 is located 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 (3)(B), the seven 
cultural items 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 and are believed, by 
preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed from a specific 
burial site of a Native American individual. Officials of the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers, Portland District 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 unassociated 
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 unassociated 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 unassociated 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. E8-24973 Filed 10-20-08; 8:45 am]
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