[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6777-6778]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02065]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035229; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Oregon State University NAGPRA 
Office, Corvallis, OR

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Oregon State University NAGPRA Office 
(acting in place of the Oregon State University Anthropology 
Department) has completed an inventory of human remains and associated 
funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural 
affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects 
and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The 
human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Benton, 
Clatsop, and Linn Counties in Oregon.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after March 3, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Dawn Marie Alapisco, Oregon State University NAGPRA Office, 
106 Gilkey Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, telephone (541) 737-4075, email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the 
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
Oregon State University NAGPRA Office. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations in this notice. Additional 
information on the determinations in this notice, including the results 
of consultation, can be found in the inventory or related records held 
by the Oregon State University NAGPRA Office.

Description

    In 1970, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual 
were removed from Benton County, OR, by Oregon State University (OSU) 
field crews under the supervision of Dr. Wilbur A. Davis, prior to 
destruction due to a creek channel clearing project. No known 
individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    In 1973 and 1974, human remains representing, at minimum, two 
individuals were removed from Benton County, OR. The Flat Creek site 
was excavated for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in 
1973, and for Linn-Benton Community College (as a field school led by 
Ina Fargher) in 1974. No known individuals were identified. The 12 
associated funerary objects are two lots of lithics, eight beads, one 
digging stick handle, and one ball.
    In the early 1990s, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed from Benton County, OR. A farmer in the Kings 
Valley area was digging a watering pond when he encountered what 
appeared to be ancient animal bones. An OSU archeologist was contacted 
to examine the bones. A mastodon vertebra yielded a radiocarbon date of 
approximately 11,000 BP. Subsequent work at the site encountered a 
partial human humerus. No known individual was identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    In the late 1970s, human remains representing, at minimum, two 
individuals were removed from the Palmrose site near Seaside, in 
Clatsop County, OR, by an unnamed instructor at Clatsop Community 
College (CCC). The instructor has long since left the employ of CCC, 
and CCC no longer has any record of the excavation. The project 
encountered a burial. Initially, the OSU Anthropology Department took 
custody of the human skeletal remains. Subsequently, it took control of 
the human remains. No known individuals were identified. No associated 
funerary objects are present.
    In 1979, human remains representing, at minimum, five individuals 
were removed from Linn County, OR. Marty Rosenson, an archeology 
instructor at Linn Benton Community College (LBCC), performed an 
archeological survey at a Kalapuya mound on private property near 
Tangent at the request of the landowner. When Rosenson left the college 
in 1988, he took all his field notes and documentation with him. In 
April of 1990, LBCC transferred control of the items removed by 
Rosenson to OSU Anthropology. No known individuals were identified. The 
327 associated funerary objects are 177 lots of lithic material, 126 
lots of faunal bone, 14 projectile points, four bird points, one lot of 
charcoal, one stone, one pestle, one ceramic fragment, one worked bone, 
and one shell fragment.
    In 1973, human remains representing, at minimum, four individuals 
were

[[Page 6778]]

removed from Davidson, Little Muddy Creek, in Linn County, OR, by Dr. 
Wilbur A. Davis of Oregon State University, and C. Melvin Aikens and 
Otto E. Henrickson of the University of Oregon under a contract with 
the U.S. Department of the Interior. No known individuals were 
identified. The eight associated funerary objects are one dentalia 
purse, one bone whistle, one awl, one awl fragment, one spoon and 
handle, one bone tool, one animal claw, and one clay marble lot.
    In 1972, human remains representing, at minimum, four individuals 
were removed from a site near Scio in Linn County, OR, by the OSU 
Anthropology Department. The burials were excavated at the request of 
the private landowner. One of the burials had been vandalized by the 
backhoe crew, but the other burials were intact and were excavated 
under controlled conditions. An estimated burial date sometime between 
A.D. 1845 and 1853 is based on associated burial objects and documented 
Euro-American settlement in the Scio area. Some of the items taken by 
the backhoe crew were transferred to the OSU Anthropology Department. 
No known individuals were identified. The 27 associated funerary 
objects are three lots of dentalia beads, two lots of shell fragments, 
two lots of metal fragments, two lots of copper tubes, one lot of 
decorated hide strips, one screw, one lot of metal bucket scraps, one 
gunflint, one metal hoop, one lot of glass beads, one lot of lithic 
flakes, one lithic core, one lot of nail fragments, one worked wood 
wedge, one lot of flat triangular copper pendants, one ran pendant, one 
ran, one lot of musket balls, one lot of wood firearm fragments, one 
lot of cloth and hide fragments, one lot of wax casts from burials, and 
one lot of buttons.
    In June of 1955, human remains representing, at minimum, two 
individuals were removed from a site near Tangent in Linn County, OR, 
by amateur excavators. At an unknown date the human remains were 
transferred to the Oregon State Police (OSP), along with information 
concerning the approximate date and location of the excavations. In 
September of 1989, the OSU Anthropology Department received the 
ancestral human remains from the Oregon State Police. No known 
individuals were identified. The one associated funerary object is an 
obsidian flake.

Cultural Affiliation

    The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice 
are connected to one or more identifiable earlier groups, tribes, 
peoples, or cultures. There is a relationship of shared group identity 
between the identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures 
and one or more Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. The 
following types of information were used to reasonably trace the 
relationship: anthropological, archeological, biological, geographical, 
historical, kinship, and linguistic.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Oregon State University NAGPRA Office has determined 
that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 21 individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 375 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects described in this notice and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz 
Indians of Oregon (previously listed as Confederated Tribes of the 
Siletz Reservation) and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde 
Community of Oregon.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation 
may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations identified in this notice.
    2. Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian 
organization not identified in this notice who shows, by a 
preponderance of the evidence, that the requestor is a lineal 
descendant or a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian 
organization.
    Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after March 3, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the Oregon State 
University NAGPRA Office must determine the most appropriate requestor 
prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human 
remains and associated funerary objects are considered a single request 
and not competing requests. The Oregon State University NAGPRA Office 
is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes 
identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, Sec.  
10.10, and Sec.  10.14.

    Dated: January 25, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-02065 Filed 1-31-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P