[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 96 (Wednesday, May 18, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 28806]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-12249]



[[Page 28806]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Thomas Burke Memorial Washington 
State Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum (Burke 
Museum), University of Washington, has completed an inventory of human 
remains and associated funerary objects, in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian tribes, and has determined that there is a cultural 
affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects 
and a present-day Indian tribe. Representatives of any Indian tribe 
that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains 
and associated funerary objects may contact the Burke Museum. 
Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects to 
the tribe named below may occur if no additional claimants come 
forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact the Burke Museum at the address below by June 
17, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Peter Lape, Burke Museum, University of Washington, Box 
35101, Seattle, WA 98195, telephone (206) 685-9364.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 Thomas Burke Memorial 
Washington State Museum (Burke Museum), University of Washington, 
Seattle, WA. The human remains and associated funerary objects were 
removed from an island northwest of Sitka, in Southeast Alaska.
    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.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Burke 
Museum professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Official Village of Kake, Shee Atika, Inc., Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and 
Sealaska Heritage Institute, a regional Native Alaskan nonprofit 
organization.

History and Description of the Remains

    Before 1902, human remains representing a minimum of five 
individuals were removed from an island northwest of Sitka, in 
Southeast Alaska. The documentation is unclear as to whether the human 
remains were removed from the west coast of Chichagof Island or 
Siginaka Island. These human remains were collected by Alexander Phil 
(or Piel) from a cave. Phil kept the human remains and funerary objects 
above his saloon in Sitka for an unknown period of time before H.A. 
Bauer brought them to Seattle. Bauer transferred the human remains to 
the Burke Museum in 1902 (Burke Accn. 998). The human remains 
include mummified human remains of a female. In 1922, a Tlingit 
individual identified her as a shaman or Indian doctor known to have 
been removed from the area; however, she was not identified by name. 
The remaining four individuals have not been identified. The five 
associated funerary objects are one wood burial box, two copper 
earrings (one set), one set of burial wrappings and rope, and one wood 
box inlaid with otter teeth.
    The human remains are consistent with Native American morphology as 
evidenced through posterior flattening of the crania, as well as the 
presence of wormian bones. The historic cultural practices of the 
Tlingit included placing the human remains of shamans in a little house 
or cave (DeLaguna 1990) with some of their paraphenelia. Although 
mummification in a crouched position has been documented in both 
Tlingit and Aleut traditional territory throughout Southeast Alaska, 
the funerary objects are consistent with contemporary Tlingit material 
culture. The Northern Tlingit occupied the outer islands and coasts of 
Southeast Alaska, and the Sitka Tribe of Alaska, which includes the 
Northern Tlingit, traditionally occupied the west coast of Chichagof 
Island and Siginaka Island.

Determinations Made by the Burke Museum

    Officials of the Burke Museum have determined that:
     Based on anthropological and biological evidence, the 
human remains and associated funerary objects are Native American.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
above represent the physical remains of five individuals of Native 
American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the five 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.
     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 Sitka 
Tribe of Alaska.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Peter Lape, Burke Museum, University of 
Washington, Box 35101, Seattle, WA 98195, telephone (206) 685-9364, 
before June 17, 2011. Repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects to the Sitka Tribe of Alaska may proceed after that 
date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Burke Museum is responsible for notifying the Official Village 
of Kake, Shee Atika, Inc., Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and the Sealaska 
Heritage Institute, a regional Native Alaskan nonprofit organization, 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: May 12, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-12249 Filed 5-17-11; 8:45 am]
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