[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 25, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 71678]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-28001]


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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 in the possession of the 
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 
7, Anchorage, AK. The human remains were removed from Krugloi Point, 
Agattu 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 with assistance from 
the Alaska State Office of History and Archaeology and University of 
Alaska, Anchorage, in consultation with representatives of the Aleut 
Corporation, Ounalashka Corporation, and Unangan Repatriation 
Commission, a non-Federally recognized Native Alaskan advisory group.
    In 1949, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from Krugloi Point, Agattu Island, AK, during research 
permitted to T.P. Bank and supervised in the field by A.C. Spaulding. 
The human remains gathered by the expedition were sent to the 
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, and then to the University of 
Alaska Fairbanks. In 2002, the human remains were moved to the Museum 
of the Aleutians at the request of the Ounalashka Corporation. No known 
individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    Radiocarbon dates from unworked pieces of wood associated with the 
human remains, but not considered to be funerary objects, were run at 
the University of Michigan, Michigan Memorial-Phoenix Project 
Radiocarbon Laboratory. The samples yielded dates of 2500  
300 years and 2630  300 years ago (Spaulding 1962). 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 populations and demonstrates biological and cultural 
affiliation between present-day Aleut groups and prehistoric 
populations in the Aleutian Islands.
    After Russian contact with the Aleutians in 1751, the population 
declined precipitously. By the 1760s, all Near Islanders had moved into 
a single village on Attu Island. During World War II, the villagers of 
Attu were interred in Japan and at war's end the survivors were 
resettled in the village on Atka. The Unangan Repatriation Commission 
provided the Fish and Wildlife Service with a list of islands and their 
culturally affiliated village corporations and tribal entities. The 
Ounalashka Corporation claimed ownership and affiliation with the 
entire T.P. Bank collection including human remains, and were also 
consulted, but were determined not to have cultural affiliation with 
the human remains removed from Agattu Island. The Aleut Corporation is 
responsible for human remains from islands without strong village 
claims. Agattu Island is accordingly represented and reasonably 
determined by officials of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7 
to have a shared group relationship to members of the Aleut 
Corporation.
    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 one individual 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(2), there is a relationship of shared group identity that can be 
reasonably traced between the Native American human remains and the 
Aleut Corporation.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Debra 
Corbett, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1011 East Tudor Road, 
Anchorage, AK 99503, telephone (907) 786-3399, before December 26, 
2008. Repatriation of the human remains to the Aleut Corporation may 
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 7 is responsible for 
notifying the Aleut Corporation, Ounalashka Corporation, and Unangan 
Repatriation Commission, a non-Federally recognized Native Alaskan 
advisory group, that this notice has been published.

    Dated: October 28, 2008
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-28001 Filed 11-24-08; 8:45 am]
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