[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 235 (Wednesday, December 9, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65141-65142]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-29291]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office, Anchorage, AK, and 
Public Museum of West Michigan, Grand Rapids, MI

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 in the control of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau 
of Land Management, Alaska State Office, Anchorage, AK, and in the 
possession of the Public Museum of West Michigan (Grand Rapids Public 
Museum), Grand Rapids, MI. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from Amaknak Island, Aleutians East Borough, 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 and associated funerary objects. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects was made by the Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office, 
and the Grand Rapids Public Museum professional staff in consultation 
with representatives of the Ounalashka Corporation and Qawalangin Tribe 
of Unalaska.
    In 1971, human remains representing a minimum of 15 individuals 
were removed from the Dutch Harbor Site on Amaknak Island, Aleutians 
East Borough, AK, during an expedition that was co-sponsored by the 
American Institute for Exploration, Western Michigan University, and 
the Public Museum of Grand Rapids. The expedition was directed by 
Western Michigan University faculty and Ted

[[Page 65142]]

Banks, president of the American Institute for Exploration. No known 
individuals were identified. The 2,152 associated funerary are 131 
hammer stones; 17 stone lamps; 1,184 stone flakes; 5 lithic cores; 49 
lithic scrapers; 34 slate knives; 44 projectile points; 23 net sinkers; 
203 fired cracked rocks; 25 stone abraders; 36 harpoon points; 169 bone 
tools; 1 bottle of whale amber; 1 quartz crystal; 1 channel coal 
fragment; 1 stone maul; 1 bone seal effigy; 1 stone effigy; 1 stone 
human effigy; 1 ground stone discoidal; 3 labrets; 1 bone fishhook; 205 
bags of fish, shell, animal, and sea mammal bone; and 15 charcoal, 
wood, and soil samples.
    The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from 
a 35-foot mound. This mound was the result of multiple dumping episodes 
from a succession of native villages. The funerary objects were found 
with the human remains and are consistent with other associated 
funerary objects reported from other locations in this region. The 
human remains and associated funerary objects have been determined to 
be prehistoric.
    Consultation with the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska, the Ounalashka 
Corporation, as well as academic expert opinions provided by the Alaska 
State Archaeologist and anthropology professors at the University of 
Alaska, are unanimous in identifying the current residents of Unalaska 
Island to be the descendants of the prehistoric people who occupied the 
site. Amaknak Island and the surrounding area have been inhabited for 
over 8,000 years by Aleut (Unangan) people. Based on geographic 
location, oral history and archeological evidence, the human remains 
and associated funerary objects from Amaknak Island are determined to 
be Native American and ancestors of members of the Ounalashka 
Corporation and Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska.
    Officials of the Bureau of Land Management have determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains described above 
represent the physical remains of a minimum of 15 individuals of Native 
American ancestry. Officials of the Bureau of Land Management have also 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 2,152 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 Bureau of Land 
Management 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 Ounalashka Corporation and Qawalangin Tribe of 
Unalaska.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Dr. Robert E. King, Alaska State NAGPRA 
Coordinator, Bureau of Land Management, 222 W. 7th Ave., Box 13, 
Anchorage, AK 99513-7599, telephone (907) 271-5510, before January 8, 
2010. Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
to the Ounalashka Corporation and Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska may 
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Alaska State Office, Bureau of Land Management is responsible 
for notifying the Ounalashka Corporation and Qawalangin Tribe of 
Unalaska that this notice has been published.

    Dated: November 13, 2009.
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-29291 Filed 12-8-09; 8:45 am]
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