[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 199 (Thursday, October 15, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62098-62099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-26296]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-19355;PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Thomas Burke 
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, University 
of Washington (Burke Museum), in consultation with the appropriate 
Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has determined that the 
cultural items listed in this notice meet the definition of 
unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or representatives of 
any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this 
notice that wish to claim these cultural items should submit a written 
request to the Burke Museum. If no additional claimants come forward, 
transfer of control of the cultural items to the lineal descendants, 
Indian tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice 
may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to the Burke Museum at the address 
in this notice by November 16, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Peter Lape, Burke Museum, University of Washington, Box 
353010, Seattle, WA 98195, telephone (206) 685-3849 x2, email 
[email protected].

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 under the 
control of the Burke Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, 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 Native 
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Item(s)

    In the late 19th or early 20th century, three cultural objects were 
removed from near the mouth of the Columbia River in the vicinity of 
sites 45-PC-25/45-PC-4, a known Chinook village and cemetery in Pacific 
County, WA. The objects were removed by the property owner and donated 
to the University of Washington Anthropology Department in 1959, and 
subsequently accessioned by the Burke Museum in 1964 (Accn. #1964-146). 
The three unassociated funerary objects include one lot of glass and 
shell beads and two copper rod bracelets. Sites 45-PC-25/45-PC-4 were 
identified as a village site and cemetery by Hudziak and Smith in 1948, 
and by Robert Cook in 1955. Cook documented these objects being in the 
possession of

[[Page 62099]]

the property owner at the time he documented the site.
    Sites 45-PC-25 and 45-PC-4 are located on the north bank of the 
Columbia River near the mouth of the river, in Pacific County, WA. Site 
45-PC-25 is a village site and site 45-PC-4 is an adjacent burial 
ground. The objects documented from site 45-PC-4 include beads. 
Funerary objects found in burials at a nearby site include copper metal 
bracelets and blue and white glass trade beads that are similar to the 
objects listed above. Additionally, information provided during 
consultation indicates that these objects are consistent with funerary 
objects typically found in Chinook territory. Sites 45-PC-25 and 45-PC-
4 are within an area of a known historic Chinook village, in the 
traditional aboriginal territory of the Lower Chinook people. According 
to historical and anthropological sources (Kidd, 1967; Mooney, 1896; 
Ray, 1938; Ruby 1986; Spier, 1936; Suttles 1990), as well as 
information provided during consultation, the aboriginal territory of 
the Lower Chinook people included the northern bank of the Columbia 
River mouth and lands north along the shore and into Willapa Bay. The 
people of this area spoke a Chinook dialect and were linguistically 
separate from other Chinook who lived farther up the Columbia River 
(Suttles, 1990). Today the Chinook people are members of the Shoalwater 
Bay Indian Tribe of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation (previously 
listed as the Shoalwater Bay Tribe of the Shoalwater Bay Indian 
Reservation, Washington), and the Chinook Indian Tribe, a non-federally 
recognized Indian group represented by the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe 
of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation (previously listed as the 
Shoalwater Bay Tribe of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation, 
Washington).

Determinations Made by the Burke Museum

    Officials of the Burke Museum have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the three 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 a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual.
     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 Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe of the 
Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation (previously listed as the Shoalwater 
Bay Tribe of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation, Washington).

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Peter Lape, Burke Museum, University of 
Washington, Box 353010, Seattle, WA 98195, telephone (206) 685-3849 x2, 
email [email protected], by November 16, 2015. After that date, if no 
additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control of the 
unassociated funerary objects to Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe of the 
Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation (previously listed as the Shoalwater 
Bay Tribe of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation, Washington) may 
proceed.
    The Burke Museum is responsible for notifying the Confederated 
Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, Washington and Shoalwater Bay Tribe 
of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation (previously listed as the 
Shoalwater Bay Tribe of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation, 
Washington), that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 17, 2015.
Melanie O'brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2015-26296 Filed 10-14-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-50-P