[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 32 (Thursday, February 18, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8217-8218]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-03408]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-20161; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Defense, 
Department of the Navy, Washington, DC

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Defense, Department of the Navy (DoN) 
has completed an inventory of human remains, in consultation with the 
Aleut Corporation, representatives of the Aleut Repatriation Committee, 
and the Cultural Heritage Director of the Aleutian/Pribilof Islands 
Association, Inc., as agents for the Native Village of Atka, AK, and 
has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human 
remains and members of the Native Village of Atka. Lineal descendants 
or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization 
not identified in this notice that wish to request transfer of control 
of these human remains should submit a written request to the DoN. If 
no additional requestors come forward, transfer of control of the human 
remains 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 
request transfer of control of these human remains should submit a 
written request with information in support of the request to the DoN 
at the address in this notice by March 21, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Susan S. Hughes, Archaeologist, Department of the Navy, 
NAVFAC NW, 1101 Tautog Circle, Silverdale, WA 98315, telephone (360) 
396-0083, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby 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 under 
the control of the DoN. The human remains were removed from the island 
of Attu, AK, in the Aleutian Islands.
    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. 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 DoN 
professional staff in consultation with the Aleut Corporation, the 
Aleut Repatriation Committee, and the Cultural Heritage Director of the 
Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, Inc., as agents for the Native 
Village of Atka, AK.

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1943, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual 
were removed from Attu Island, at the western end of the Aleutian 
Islands, AK. The human remains, a skull and associated mandible, came 
into the possession of William J. Madden II, Senior Medical Officer at 
the U.S. Naval Aerological Station, Attu, where they were used as an 
aid in the study of human skull anatomy. In a letter dated May 14, 
1948, Dr. Madden states that the human remains were recovered by a 
civilian construction company while engaged in building a Coast Guard 
Station on Attu. A historic account of the Coast Guard construction of 
the Western Aleutian island chain (The Coast Guard at War: IV Loran 
Volume I Section III, Chapter 3) suggests that the skull may have come 
from an archeological site at Baxter Bay.
    After the Battle of Attu in the spring of 1943, a U.S.C.G. LORAN 
Station was

[[Page 8218]]

built on Attu. A construction party arrived in November of 1943, and 
began construction of the first LORAN station at Attu on Theodore 
Point, south of Massacre Bay. A temporary base camp was established at 
Baxter Cove, 2.5 miles east of the station, the only place where 
equipment could be offloaded near the site. Tents, a mess hut, and a 
Loran transmitting equipment storage hut were erected, and a large CAT 
began construction of the switchback road to the ridge top site. The 
road became known as Hooligan Highway and was one of the engineering 
wonders of Attu. An account by Lt. Cmdr. Yates indicates that in the 
first five hundred feet of road construction at Baxter Cove, the CAT 
cut through an Aleutian cemetery located under a dummy gun emplacement 
that the Japanese had abandoned a few months earlier. The construction 
work turned up ``human skulls and bones of prehistoric animals which 
had been in turn, buried deep below ivory trinkets and tons of bird and 
fish bones.'' In 1949, the LORAN Station was moved to Murder Point, 
closer to Massacre Bay.
    The skull was transferred into the custody of the Yale University 
Peabody Museum in 1955 (Catalog No. ANTPA.000227), where it remained 
until 2014, when it was returned to the Department of the Navy, NAVFAC 
Northwest, to facilitate its repatriation.
    The skull is represented by a nearly complete cranium and mandible 
belonging to a young female, aged 15 to 19 years. The dental wear, 
eruption and mandibular morphology are consistent with the mandible 
belonging with the cranium. There is damage to the ethmoid and the 
nasal conchae, with the inferior nasal conchae completely absent. The 
vomer is present but disarticulated. The sphenoid and right temporal 
show some postmortem damage. The zygomatic process of the right 
temporal is missing, as is the right mastoid; the left mastoid process 
is damaged but mostly present. The mandible is missing the condyles, 
the right mandibular angle, and its coronoid process. Most of the 
molars are present, but the incisors and canines were lost post-mortem.
    The individual's age is based upon the unerupted third molars, 
unfused basal synchondrosis, and incomplete closure of the incisive 
suture of the palate. There is no clear evidence of chronic or acute 
health issues. The skull does reveal a small healed, depressed fracture 
located on the right parietal. The color and condition of the human 
remains suggests superficial interment with subsequent or partial 
exposure. Metric and nonmetric data support ethnic identification as 
Native American/Indigenous Alaska with closest affinity to females 
sampled from Wales, AK (Southeastern mainland; Aronsen and Kirkham 
2014). No known individuals are identified. No funerary objects are 
associated with the human remains.
    Radiocarbon dates from archeological sites on Attu Island reveal 
that the island was inhabited between 100 and 2000 years ago (Lefevre 
et al. 2001). The Department of the Navy has determined that the human 
remains are affiliated with the Unangax/Aleut people because they have 
a long history of living on the Aleutian Islands, including the island 
of Attu. When the 20th century Native Village of Attu at Chichagof 
Harbor was occupied by the Japanese in 1942, the Native inhabitants 
were removed to Japan. The village was not re-occupied after the war; 
its remaining inhabitants settling on Atka Island, the closest 
settlement to Attu Island (Aleut Repatriation Commission and Cultural 
Heritage Director, 2002).

Determinations Made by the Department of the Navy

    Officials of the Department of the Navy have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of one individual of 
Native American ancestry.
     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 Members of the Village of Atka, AK.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
request transfer of control of these human remains should submit a 
written request with information in support of the request to Dr. Susan 
S. Hughes, Department of the Navy NAVFAC NW, 1101 Tautog Circle, 
Silverdale, WA 98315, telephone (360) 396-0083, email 
[email protected], by March 21, 2016. After that date, if no 
additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains to the Native Village of Atka, AK, may proceed.
    The Department of the Navy is responsible for notifying the Native 
Village of Atka, AK, through its agents, that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: January 20, 2016.
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2016-03408 Filed 2-17-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-50-P