[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 205 (Wednesday, October 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73363-73364]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23554]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036822; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of 
the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Anchorage, AK

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 U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau 
of Land Management (BLM Alaska) intends to repatriate certain a 
cultural item that meets the definition of an unassociated funerary 
object and that has a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural item was 
removed from the Nome Census Area, AK.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural item in this notice may occur on or 
after November 24, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Robert E. King, Bureau of Land Management, 222 W 7th Avenue, 
#13, Anchorage, AK 99513, telephone (907) 271-5510, 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 BLM 
Alaska. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice. Additional information on the 
determinations in this notice, including

[[Page 73364]]

the results of consultation, can be found in the inventory or related 
records held by BLM Alaska.

Description

    Most likely in the 1950s or 1960s, one cultural item was removed 
from the vicinity of Wales in the Nome Census Area, AK, and was placed 
in the collection of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown 
University in Providence, RI. (The museum's sponsorship of multiple 
expeditions to Alaska in the mid-20th century might account for its 
custody of this cultural item.) The one unassociated funerary object is 
a polar bear cranium marked ``Polar bear from burial site near Wales.''

Cultural Affiliation

    The cultural item in this notice is 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, oral 
traditional, and museum records.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, BLM Alaska has determined that:
     The one cultural item described above is 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural item and the Native Village 
of Wales.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the cultural item in this 
notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in 
ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be submitted by 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 cultural item in this notice to a requestor may 
occur on or after November 24, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, BLM Alaska must determine the most 
appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint 
repatriation of this cultural item is considered a single request and 
not competing requests. BLM Alaska is responsible for sending a copy of 
this notice to the Indian Tribe identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.8, Sec.  
10.10, and Sec.  10.14.

    Dated: October 18, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-23554 Filed 10-24-23; 8:45 am]
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