[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 23 (Monday, February 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1488-1489]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-00837]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0027141; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
Anchorage, AK and the University of Alaska Museum of the North, 
Fairbanks, AK

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Alaska Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the 
University of Alaska Museum of the North have completed an inventory of 
human remains and associated funerary objects, 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 associated funerary objects 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 and associated funerary objects should submit a written request 
to the Alaska Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the University 
of Alaska Museum of the North. If no additional requestors come 
forward, transfer of control of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects 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 and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to the Alaska Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service and the University of Alaska Museum of the North at the address 
in this notice by March 6, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Edward J. DeCleva, Regional Historic Preservation Officer/
Archaeologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1011 East Tudor Road, 
MS-235, Anchorage, AK 99503, telephone (907) 786-3399, email 
[email protected] and Dr. Joshua Reuther, Curator of Archaeology, 
University of Alaska Museum of the North, 1962 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, 
AK 99775, telephone (907) 474-6945, 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 and 
associated funerary objects under the control of the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service (USFWS) and housed at the University of Alaska Museum 
of the North. The human remains and associated funerary objects were 
removed from the Port Moller Hot Springs Village archeological site 
(XPM-00001), Aleutians East Borough, AK.
    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 Alaska 
Region, USFWS, and the University of Alaska Museum of the North 
professional staff, in consultation with representatives of the 
Agdaagux Tribe of King Cove; Chignik Bay Tribal Council (previously 
listed as the Native Village of Chignik); Chignik Lake Village; Ivanoff 
Bay Tribe (previously listed as the Ivanoff Bay Tribe and the Ivanoff 
Bay Village); Native Village of Belkofski; Native Village of Chignik 
Lagoon; Native Village of False Pass; Native Village of Nelson Lagoon; 
Native Village of Perryville; Native Village of Port Heiden; Native 
Village of Unga; Pauloff Harbor Village; Qagan Tayagungin Tribe of Sand 
Point Village; and the Aleut Corporation (hereafter referred to as 
``The Consulting Tribes'').

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1960, 1972, 1974, 1982, and 1984, human remains representing, at

[[Page 1489]]

minimum, 35 individuals were removed from Port Moller Hot Springs 
Village archeological site (XPM-00001) near Port Moller on the Alaska 
Peninsula partially within the boundary of the Alaska Peninsula 
National Wildlife Refuge, AK. Professional archeological excavations 
were carried out at the site as early as 1928 and most recently in 
2014. Excavations were carried out at the site in 1960 by Chester S. 
Chard of the University of Wisconsin and Sosuke Sugihara of Meiji 
University in Japan. Large-scale excavation occurred at the site 
multiple times throughout the 1970s and 1980s by Hiroaki Okada, an 
archeologist at Hokkaido University in Japan.
    At an unknown time, human remains representing, at minimum, four 
individuals were removed from the Port Moller area by an unknown 
individual. These human remains are also housed with the 35 individuals 
from the Port Moller Hot Springs Village archeological excavations.
    In the years since being collected, different portions of these 
human remains have been held at various institutions and locations. 
Between 2015 and 2017, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service consolidated 
all 39 sets of human remains from the Port Moller Hot Springs Village 
Site and Port Moller vicinity at the University of Alaska Museum of the 
North. These human remains, which consist of cranial and post-cranial 
elements, belong to fourteen juveniles of unknown sex (Burials PM-1, 
PM-3, PM-5, PM-6, 72-1, 72 Isolate Remains-2, 82-1, 82-4, 82-5, 82-6, 
84-1, 84 Isolate Remains-3, Box 5a-2, Box 5a-3), three adult females 
(Burials PM-2, PM-7, 84-2), seven adult males (Burials PM-4, 72-2, 72-
3, 72-4, 82-2, 82-3, 82-7), nine adults of unknown sex (Burial 72-4a, 
72 Isolate Remains-1, 74-1, 82-2a, 82-2b, 84 Isolate Remains-1, 84 
Isolate Remains-2, Box 5a-1, Individual 5), and six individuals of 
unknown sex and unknown age (Burials 74-2, 74-3, 74-4, 82-1a, 82-6a, 
Individual 4). No known individuals were identified. The 217 associated 
funerary objects are: one bead, six red ochre samples, 127 animal 
bones, one triangular shale point, seven chipped-stone artifacts, four 
hammerstones/abraders, three pieces of worked bone or ivory, two bone 
pins, one carved ornament, one decorated pin, one whale bone adze, one 
leister prong, two stone points, two slab stones, one sword-like bone 
stick, three ivory pendants, eight buttons, five metal objects, one lot 
of beads and buttons, one length of braided hair, one lot of cloth and 
leather fragments, 30 leather fragments, one soil sample, and seven 
pieces of pottery.
    The occupation of the Port Moller Hot Springs Village site has been 
divided into three phases: (1) Around 600 years BP, (2) around 1500 
years BP, and (3) around 3000-3500 years BP. The 24 individuals removed 
from the site in 1960, 1972, 1974, and 1984 have been associated with 
the later period of occupation, or from approximately 600-1500 years 
BP. The 11 individuals removed from the site in 1982 are associated 
with a radiocarbon date from the oldest occupation at the site. Of the 
four individuals removed from the Port Moller area, three are 
associated with artifacts indicating a protohistoric or historic age, 
and one cannot be associated with a date.
    The Port Moller region is strategically located at the junction of 
four important cultural areas: the Aglemiut Eskimo to the northeast, 
Aleut to the west, the Koniaq Eskimo on Kodiak Island, and the Eskimo 
of the southwestern interior region of Alaska to the east. Cultural 
affiliation between the prehistoric populations in the area of the Hot 
Springs Village site can only be determined through analyses of 
archeological and human remains, as very little oral history 
information is known concerning the use of the Port Moller area prior 
to 1900. Based on the archeological evidence, it is believed that the 
site is well within the Aleut area of influence, but some archeologists 
believe that due to the site's strategic location, the culture 
represented here likely received ideas from several different 
directions. The burial contexts of the human remains are consistent 
with those observed for pre-contact Aleut populations; namely, the 
custom of burying the dead inside compartments of semi-subterranean 
houses. The physical traits of the human remains have been determined 
by some as exhibiting a close affinity to the Alaska Eskimo, while 
others conclude that they represent Paleo-Aleuts. A biological 
relationship between these human remains and the inhabitants of the 
Nelson Lagoon area is supported by an ancient DNA study published in 
2010.

Determinations Made by the Alaska Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service and the University of Alaska Museum of the North

    Officials of the Alaska Region, USFWS, and the University of Alaska 
Museum of the North have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of 39 individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 217 objects 
described in this notice 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 Native 
Village of Nelson Lagoon.

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 and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to Edward DeCleva, Regional Historic 
Preservation Officer/Archaeologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
Alaska Region, 1011 East Tudor Road, MS-235, Anchorage, AK 99013, 
telephone (907) 786-3399, email [email protected], and Dr. Joshua 
D. Reuther, Curator of Archaeology, University of Alaska Museum of the 
North, 907 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775, telephone (907) 474-6945, 
email [email protected], by March 6, 2019. After that date, if no 
additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to the Native Village of 
Nelson Lagoon may proceed.
    The Alaska Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the 
University of Alaska Museum of the North is responsible for notifying 
The Consulting Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: December 11, 2018.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2019-00837 Filed 2-1-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P