[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 141 (Friday, July 24, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36740-36741]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-17667]


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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, Walla Walla District, Walla Walla, WA 
and Museum of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, 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 cultural items in the control of the U.S. Department of 
Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, Walla Walla, 
WA, and in the physical custody of the Museum of Anthropology, 
Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 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 
unassociated funerary objects. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations in this notice.
    In July 1963, cultural items were removed from the Marmes 
Rockshelter (45FR50), Franklin County, WA, by Washington State 
University under contract with the National Park Service and prior to 
the inundation of the reservoir created by the construction of the 
Lower Monumental Dam by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The material 
from the excavation is curated at Washington State University. The 
cultural items that were removed are believed to have been placed with 
or near the human remains from Burial 13. As the human remains from 
Burial 13 are not in the control or possession of a Federal agency or 
museum, the cultural items are unassociated funerary objects. The 176 
unassociated funerary objects are 44 faunal fragments, 12 basalt 
samples, 15 chert/cryptocrystalline flakes, 2 shells, 9 organic 
materials (including plants), 1 stone sample, 6 pieces of basalt blocky 
shatter, 6 pieces of chert/cryptocrystalline blocky shatter, 2 chert/
cryptocrystalline flake shatter, 6 basalt flake shatter, 2 obsidian 
flakes, 1 retouched basalt flake, 1 retouched chert/cryptocrystalline 
flake, 53 basalt flakes, 1 chert/cryptocrystalline core, 1 chert/
cryptocrystalline flakes, 12 basalt flakes, and 2 lots of shell 
remains.
    The unassociated funerary objects are determined to be associated 
with the Late Cascade Phase (6500 to 4500 BP). The archeological 
evidence found in the Marmes Rockshelter (and in six nearby 
archeological sites) supports a nearly continuous occupation from the 
Late Cascade Phase to the Harder Phase (2500-500 BP), and provides the 
most direct physical line of evidence supporting a determination of 
cultural affiliation between an earlier group and a present-day Indian 
tribe. Geographical and anthropological lines of evidence support the 
archeological. Oral tradition evidence provided by tribal elders 
indicates that a large Palus (Palouse) village, inhabited by tribal 
ancestors from time immemorial, was once located near the Marmes 
Rockshelter. According to tribal elders, these ancestors were mobile, 
and traveled the landscape to gather resources as well as trade among 
each other.
    Ethnographic documentation indicates that the present-day location 
of the Marmes Rockshelter in Franklin County, WA, is within the 
territory occupied historically by the Palus (Palouse) Indians. During 
the historic period, the Palouse people settled along the Snake River, 
relied on fish, game and root resources for subsistence, shared their 
resource areas and maintained extensive kinship connections with other 
groups in the area, and had limited political integration until the 
adoption of the horse (Walker 1998). These characteristics are common 
to the greater Plateau cultural communities surrounding the Palouse 
territory including the Nez Perce, Cayuse, Walla Walla, Yakama, and 
Wanapum groups. Moreover, the information provided during consultation 
by representatives of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville 
Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama 
Nation, Washington; Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and the Wanapum Band, a 
non-Federally recognized Indian group, substantiate their cultural 
affiliation with each other and with the earlier group represented at 
the Marmes Rockshelter. The descendants of these Plateau communities of 
southeastern Washington, now widely dispersed, are members of the 
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon; 
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; Nez 
Perce Tribe, Idaho; and the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized 
Indian group.
    Officials of the U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of 
Engineers, Walla Walla District have determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the 176 unassociated funerary 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 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 U.S. Department of

[[Page 36741]]

Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla 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 unassociated 
funerary objects and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville 
Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama 
Nation, Washington; and Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho. Furthermore, officials 
of the U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla 
District have determined that there is a cultural relationship between 
the unassociated funerary objects and the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally 
recognized Indian group.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believe their tribe 
is culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Lieutenant Colonel Michael Farrell, U.S. Department of Defense, 
Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, 201 North Third Avenue, 
Walla Walla, WA 99362-1876, telephone (509) 527-7700, before August 24, 
2009. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary objects to the 
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon; 
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; and Nez 
Perce Tribe, Idaho may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward. The U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of 
Engineers, Walla Walla District acknowledges participation of the 
Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group, in the transfer 
of the unassociated funerary objects to the Federally-recognized Indian 
tribes.
    The U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers, Walla 
Walla District is responsible for notifying the Confederated Tribes of 
the Colville Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the 
Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of 
the Yakama Nation, Washington; Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and the Wanapum 
Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: July 14, 2009
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-17667 Filed 7-23-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S