[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 36 (Friday, February 24, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11642-11643]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-03611]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-22721; 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 
appropriate Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, and has 
determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human 
remains and present-day Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. 
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 Department of the Navy. 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 
Department of the Navy at the address in this notice by March 27, 2017.

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 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 under 
the control of the Department of the Navy. The human remains were 
removed from Indian Island, Jefferson County, WA.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3) and 
43 CFR 10.11(d). The determinations in this notice are the sole 
responsibility of the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has 
control of the Native American human

[[Page 11643]]

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 
Department of the Navy professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and Port Gamble 
S'Klallam Tribe (previously listed as the Port Gamble Band of S'Klallam 
Indians).

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1976, human remains representing, at minimum, 2 individuals were 
removed from Walan Point, Indian Island in Jefferson County, WA. The 
site was first recorded by G.L. Coale in 1956. Prior to the 
construction of an ammunitions pier and support facilities on the 
sandspit, Astrida Blukis Onat with Seattle Central Community College 
conducted test excavations at the site in 1975. Analysis of the 
materials indicated the site to be a temporary procurement camp less 
than 2000 years old. Among the many artifacts recovered were fragments 
of unidentified human bone from four excavation units: 92N10W, 98N8W, 
114N8W, and 130N11W. These materials were briefly mentioned in Blukis 
Onat's 1976 report. During pier construction later that year, heavy 
equipment unearthed two human burials at depths of 40 to 60 centimeters 
below the surface along with several surface bone fragments. One of the 
burials was estimated to be 300 years old based on the decomposition of 
the cedar box that the individual was buried in. These remains were 
studied by a physical anthropologist and the results summarized in 
Blukis Onat and Haversat (1977). All materials recovered from the 
excavations were transferred to the Washington State University's 
Museum of Anthropology for storage.
    Following a 1995 curation assessment performed by the Washington 
State University Museum (Andrefsky et al. 1995), all known human 
remains and associated funerary objects from the Walan Point site were 
repatriated with the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe. The Notice of Inventory 
Completion was published in the Federal Register on December 17, 1998, 
63 FR 69651. The human remains and associated funerary objects were 
transferred to the S'Klallam on February 8, 1999, and subsequently re-
interred in a repatriation cemetery on NAVMAG Indian Island. In 2002, 
the remaining artifacts and excavation records from Walan Point were 
transferred from Washington State University to the Jamestown S'Klallam 
Reservation Tribal Center in Blyn, WA. The Jamestown S'Klallam moved 
the materials to a different facility in 2015. That same year, the U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers Center of Expertise for the Curation and 
Management of Archaeological Collections performed an updated Curation 
Assessment of the Indian Island collection at the new facility. During 
this assessment, two small bags labeled as human remains, each 
containing one bone, were found in a box of faunal remains (Williams 
2015).
    In 2016, these two bones were sent to Dr. Guy Tasa, forensic 
anthropologist with the Washington State Department of Archaeology and 
Historic Preservation, for identification. Dr. Tasa identified the 
bones as representing two sub-adult humans of unknown sex. The first is 
a humoral head belonging to a child, aged 5 to 16 years of age; the 
second, the left tibia epiphysis from a sub-adult, aged 10 to 15 years. 
These bones appear to have been recovered from Blukis Onat's 1976 
excavation, units 92N10W and 98N8W, respectively. It is the intent of 
the Department of the Navy to repatriate these additional human remains 
from the Walan Point site. No known individuals were identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    Based on the ethnographic data, tribal accounts, and archeological 
data, the Department of the Navy has determined that the Jamestown 
S'Klallam, Lower Elwha Clallam, and Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribes are 
most closely affiliated with these remains. Ethnographic studies place 
Indian Island within the traditional territory of the Chemakum Tribe. 
By the early 1850s, the Chemakum population was reduced to 90 
individuals; by 1878, only 13 individuals remained. The much larger 
Clallam (S'Klallam) Tribe, whose territory joined the Chemakum's on the 
west, took over Chemakum territory in the later 1800s, and the few 
remaining Chemakum still living in the area joined with the Clallam 
Tribe.

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 2 individuals 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 and the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, Lower Elwha Tribal 
Community (previously listed as the Lower Elwha Tribal Community of the 
Lower Elwha Reservation, Washington), and Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe 
(previously listed as the Port Gamble Band of S'Klallam Indians).

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, Archaeologist, Department of the Navy, NAVFAC NW., 1101 
Tautog Circle, Silverdale, WA 98315, telephone (360) 396-0083, email 
[email protected], by March 27, 2017. After that date, if no 
additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains to the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, Lower Elwha Tribal 
Community (previously listed as the Lower Elwha Tribal Community of the 
Lower Elwha Reservation, Washington), and Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe 
(previously listed as the Port Gamble Band of S'Klallam Indians) may 
proceed.
    The Department of the Navy is responsible for notifying the 
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, Lower Elwha Tribal Community (previously 
listed as the Lower Elwha Tribal Community of the Lower Elwha 
Reservation, Washington), and Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe (previously 
listed as the Port Gamble Band of S'Klallam Indians) that this notice 
has been published.

    Dated: January 9, 2017.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2017-03611 Filed 2-23-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P