[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 42 (Thursday, March 5, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Page 9624]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-4682]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item: Paul H. Karshner 
Memorial Museum, Puyallup, 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. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate a cultural item in the possession of the Paul H. Karshner 
Memorial Museum, Puyallup, WA, that meets the definition of 
``unassociated funerary object'' 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 
item. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    At an unknown time, one cultural item was removed from a grave near 
Vantage, Kittitas County, WA. In 1931, the one unassociated funerary 
object was donated to the Paul H. Karshner Memorial Museum by the 
museum's founder, Dr. Warner Karshner (Accession 1931.01). Museum 
records state the cultural item is an unassociated funerary object 
since it was found in a grave. The unassociated funerary object is a 
necklace that is 30 inches in length, and made of disc-shaped bone and 
red glass Cornaline d'Aleppo beads (Catalog Number 1-607).
    Published ethnographic documentation indicates that the Vantage, 
WA, area is within the traditional territory of the Moses-Columbia or 
Sinkiuse, Wanapum, and Yakama peoples (Ray 1936, Spier 1936). 
Descendants of the Moses-Columbia, Sinkiuse, Wanapum, and Yakama are 
members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 
Washington, and Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, 
Washington, as well as the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized 
Indian group. The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, 
Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, 
Washington; and the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian 
group, are jointly claiming this unassociated funerary object from the 
Vantage area.
    Officials of the Paul H. Karshner Memorial Museum have determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the one cultural item 
described above is 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 a preponderance of the 
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual. Officials of the Paul H. Karshner Memorial Museum 
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 object and the Confederated Tribes 
and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the 
Colville Reservation, Washington; and the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally 
recognized Indian group.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary object should 
contact Dr. Jay Reifel, Assistant Superintendent, telephone (253) 840-
8971, or Ms. Beth Bestrom, Museum Curator, telephone (253) 841-8748, 
Paul H. Karshner Memorial Museum, 309 4th St. NE, Puyallup, WA 98372, 
before April 6, 2009. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary object 
to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; and the 
Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group, may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Paul H. Karshner Memorial Museum is responsible for notifying 
the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; and the 
Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group, that this notice 
has been published.

    Dated: January 26, 2009.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-4682 Filed 3-5-09; 8:45 am]
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