[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 45 (Wednesday, March 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13622-13623]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-5581]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Maxey Museum, 
Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Maxey Museum, in consultation with the appropriate Indian 
tribes, has determined that the cultural items meet the definition of 
unassociated funerary objects and repatriation to the Indian tribes 
stated below may occur if no additional claimants come forward. 
Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with these cultural items may contact Maxey 
Museum.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the cultural items should contact Maxey 
Museum at the address below by April 6, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Gary Rollefson, Maxey Museum, Whitman College, 345 Boyer 
Avenue, Walla Walla, WA 99362, telephone (509) 527-4938.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 
possession of Maxey

[[Page 13623]]

Museum 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 Native 
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    The following cultural items in Maxey Museum came from various 
collectors and sites within the Columbia River Plateau near the 
confluence of the Columbia and Snake rivers in Oregon and Washington. 
The unassociated funerary objects are: 25 stone implements; 3 pestle 
fragments; 2 pounding stones; 1 grooved weight; 1 grooved stone; 1 
mortar; 2 pestles; 1 bone awl; and 1 lot of metal beads.
    The stone implements were collected at various points along the 
Columbia and Snake Rivers, most notably by H.T. Harding and Dr. H.S. 
Brode. Journals and donor records indicate these objects were collected 
in the following locations: ``opposite the mouth of the Yakima River'' 
in September 1925 and May 1928; ``along the Columbia River, north of 
Pasco, Washington. Presented by H.S. Brode, April 14, 1929''; and along 
the ``Snake River, N.E. Burbank, Washington. H.S. Brode and J.C. 
Bunnell, 1930.'' The bone awl was purchased by Whitman College from Mr. 
Clarence McBeth on January 24, 1930, and is listed as being from ``an 
Indian grave along the Snake River in Walla Walla County, southwest of 
Riparia, Washington.'' Lastly, the metal beads were taken from ``an 
Indian grave, Tucannon Burial Ground'' and were donated to Maxey Museum 
by F.G. Moor in 1944.
    A detailed assessment of the cultural items was made by Maxey 
Museum professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon; Confederated 
Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon; Nez Perce Tribe, 
Idaho (previously listed as Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho) (hereafter 
referred to as ``The Tribes''); and the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally 
recognized Indian group (hereafter referred to as ``The Indian 
Group''). The Tribes and The Indian Group claim these objects as 
unassociated funerary objects due to the provenance indicating the 
objects were removed from known burial sites within the Columbia River 
Plateau. All of the collection sites are located in close proximity to 
one another within the traditional territories of The Tribes and The 
Indian Group.
    The collection site opposite the mouth of the Yakima River is a 
burial area now known as site 45FR101, Chiawana Park. Lewis and Clark 
mentioned how heavily this area was populated during the fall salmon 
runs. Fishing stations, processing areas and villages were located on 
both sides of the Columbia River and at the mouth of the Yakima River 
(Moulton 1988) and north of Pasco, WA. A large excavation of this site 
occurred in 1967 by the Mid-Columbia Archaeology Society under the 
direction of Dr. David Rice. Approximately, sixteen burials were 
removed to a repository at Washington State University; however, some 
of the remains were reported to be repatriated to the Yakama Nation in 
1982 (Collins et al. 2001, LaSarge 2002). Brode and Bunnell collected 
together in the 1930s at NE Burbank, WA, on the Snake River. Hood Park 
is northeast of Burbank and was heavily used as a traditional salmon 
fishing and processing area by The Tribes and The Indian Group (Iverson 
1976; Croghan 1999; Wright 2001). Wright (2001:6) states that burials 
were located and removed from the day use and campground areas of the 
park in the mid-1970s. Erosion along the Snake River shoreline has also 
caused burials to be exposed from this location over the years. The 
Tucannon Burial Ground is congruent with Smithsonian site 45CO1, a 
large, heavily looted fishing station, open camp and burial site at the 
mouth of the Tucannon River where it joins the Snake River. The Indian 
grave described as southwest of Riparia, WA, is likely in the vicinity 
of the mouth of the Tucannon River. The Tucannon River is situated 
along a traditional cultural boundary between the Nez Perce Tribe and 
the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation.
    Based on traditional lifeways, past and present, The Tribes and The 
Indian Group are direct descendant communities of the native people 
that jointly used the lower Snake and Columbia rivers. As aboriginal 
lifeways were being extinguished by Euro-American settlement of the 
Pacific Northwest, treaties were negotiated and signed with the native 
communities during the expansion of Washington and Oregon territories. 
The native peoples in these territories were removed from the shores of 
the Columbia and Snake rivers to the Colville, Umatilla, Warm Springs, 
Yakama and Nez Perce reservations. The Wanapum Band was removed from 
the rivers as well but was not put on a reservation of their own. 
Cultural affiliation is further reinforced by living, enrolled members 
of The Tribes and The Indian Group that have documented ancestors 
buried along the lower Snake and Columbia rivers.

Determinations Made by Maxey Museum

    Officials of Maxey Museum have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 37 cultural items 
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 specific burial sites of Native 
American individuals.
     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 Tribes and The Indian Group.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Gary Rollefson, Maxey Museum, Whitman College, 345 Boyer 
Avenue, Walla Walla, WA 99362, telephone (509) 527-4938, before April 
6, 2012. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary objects to The 
Tribes and The Indian Group may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    Maxey Museum is responsible for notifying The Tribes and The Indian 
Group that this notice has been published.

    Dated: March 2, 2012.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2012-5581 Filed 3-6-12; 8:45 am]
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