[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 238 (Wednesday, December 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 86366-86367]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-27376]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037062; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: University of 
Alaska Museum of the North, Fairbanks, 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 University of Alaska Museum of the North 
intends to repatriate a certain 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 Aleutians West Census Area, AK.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural item in this notice may occur on or 
after January 12, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Josh Reuther, University of Alaska Museum of the North, 1962 
Yukon Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775, telephone (907) 474-6945, 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 
University of Alaska Museum of the North. 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 summary or related records held by 
the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

Description

    The one cultural item was removed from the Aleutians West Census 
Area, AK. In 1958, a single unassociated funerary object was collected 
from Unalaska Island by Lt. William Trafton and deposited at the 
University of Alaska Museum of the North. The exact location is 
unknown; the provenience is listed as Dutch Harbor. The unassociated 
funerary object is an ivory labret.

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,

[[Page 86367]]

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: archeological and oral traditional.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the University of Alaska Museum of the North has 
determined that:
     The one cultural item described above 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 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 items and the Qawalangin 
Tribe of Unalaska.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, 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 January 12, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the University of Alaska Museum of the North 
must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. 
Requests for joint repatriation of the cultural item is considered a 
single request and not competing requests. The University of Alaska 
Museum of the North 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, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: December 6, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-27376 Filed 12-12-23; 8:45 am]
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