[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 42 (Thursday, March 5, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9624-9625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-4670]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item: U.S. Department
of Energy, Richland Operations Office, Richland, WA and Phoebe A.
Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley,
Berkeley, CA
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3005, of the intent
to repatriate a cultural item in the control of the U.S. Department of
Energy, Richland Operations Office, Richland, WA, and in the physical
custody of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology (Hearst Museum),
University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, that meets the
definition of ``unassociated funerary object'' under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
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 cultural
item. The National Park Service is not responsible for the
determinations in this notice.
On an unknown date, one unassociated funerary object was removed
from site 45BN157, Jaeger's Island, located on the U.S. Department of
Energy's Hanford Site on the south bank of the Columbia River, Benton
[[Page 9625]]
County, WA, by Francis Riddell, and accessioned into the Hearst Museum
in 1951. The one unassociated funerary object is a bead (catalog 2-
40752).
Museum documentation indicates that the bead is from a talus
burial, and that the museum does not hold human remains from this
burial. This type of cultural item is consistent with other funerary
objects found in the Columbia River area during occupation by the
Yakama, Walla Walla, and Wanapum groups.
Ethnographic documentation indicates that the present-day location
of the Hanford Site, Benton County, WA, is located within an
overlapping aboriginal territory of the Yakama, Walla Walla, and
Wanapum groups. The descendants of the Yakama, Walla Walla, and Wanapum
are represented today by the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the
Yakama Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation, Oregon; and the Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized
Indian group. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation,
Washington, and Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho are also known to have used the
area routinely.
Officials of the Department of Energy and the Hearst Museum have
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), 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 is believed, by a preponderance of the
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native
American individual. Officials of the Department of Energy and the
Hearst Museum also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001
(2), there is a relationship of shared group identity that can be
reasonably traced between the unassociated funerary object and the
Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington;
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon;
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; and Nez
Perce Tribe, Idaho. Furthermore, officials of the Department of Energy
and the Hearst Museum have determined that there is a cultural
relationship between the unassociated funerary object and the Wanapum
Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian group.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary object should
contact Annabelle Rodriguez, U.S. Department of Energy, Cultural/
Historic Resources Program, Richland Operations Office, 825 Jadwin
Avenue, MSIN A5-15, Richland, WA 99352, telephone (509) 372-0277,
before April 6, 2009. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary object
to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Washington;
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon;
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; Nez
Perce Tribe, Idaho; and Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized Indian
group, may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come
forward. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation,
Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation,
Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington;
Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized
Indian group, are claiming jointly all cultural items from the Hanford
area.
The Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office is responsible
for notifying the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation,
Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation,
Oregon; Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington;
Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho; and Wanapum Band, a non-Federally recognized
Indian group, that this notice has been published.
Dated: January 26, 2009.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-4670 Filed 3-4-09; 8:45 am]
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