[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 27 (Thursday, February 8, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8718-8719]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-02549]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037341; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Central Washington 
University, Ellensburg, WA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Central Washington University intends to 
repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of 
unassociated funerary objects and that have a cultural affiliation with 
the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The 
cultural items were removed from Grant, Kittitas, and Yakima County, 
WA.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after March 11, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Lourdes Henebry-DeLeon, Department of Anthropology and 
Museum Studies, Central Washington University, 400 University Way, 
Ellensburg, WA 98926-7544, telephone (509) 963-2671, 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 
Central Washington University. 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 
Central Washington University.

Description

    Between 1913 and 1943, 51 lots of unassociated funerary objects 
were removed from burial sites along the Columbia River in Grant, 
Kittitas, and Yakima Counties in Washington. They were excavated by Dr. 
Linus Walker, a private collector from Ellensburg, Kittitas County, WA, 
who donated most of his collection to Central Washington University in 
1953. The 51 lots of unassociated funerary objects are 1 lot of adzes, 
1 lot of anchor stones, 1 lot of war clubs, 1 lot of knives, 1 lot 
mortars, 3 lots of paint cups, 2 lots of ochre, 7 lots of pestles, 2 
lots of pipes, 16 lots of modified shell, 10 lots of trade beads, 1 lot 
of manos, 1 lot of net sinkers, 1 lot of whetstones, 1 lot of hammers, 
1 lot of faunal material, and 1 lot modified sandstone.

Cultural Affiliation

    The cultural items 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: archaeological, 
geographical, historical, and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, Central Washington University has determined that:
     The 51 lots of cultural items 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 Confederated 
Tribes and Band of the Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes of the 
Colville Reservation.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items 
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 and, if joined 
to a request from one or more of the Indian Tribes, the Wanapum Band of 
Priest Rapids, a non-federally recognized Indian group.
    Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice to a requestor 
may occur on or after March 11, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the Central Washington University must 
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. 
Requests for joint repatriation of the cultural items are considered a 
single request and not competing requests. Central Washington 
University is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the 
Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this 
notice.
    This notice was submitted on or after the effective date of the 
revised regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 
12, 2024). As the notice conforms to the mandatory format of the 
Federal Register and includes the required information, the National 
Park Service is publishing this notice as submitted.

[[Page 8719]]

    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3004, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

    Dated: February 1, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-02549 Filed 2-7-24; 8:45 am]
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