Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, Richland, WA and Thomas Burke Memorial Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 60191 [E6-16924]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 197 (Thursday, October 12, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 60191]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-16924]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of 
Energy, Richland Operations Office, Richland, WA and Thomas Burke 
Memorial Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

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 cultural items in the control of the U.S. Department of 
Energy, Richland Operations Office, Richland, WA, and in the physical 
custody of the Thomas Burke Memorial Museum (Burke Museum), University 
of Washington, Seattle, WA, that meet the definition of ``unassociated 
funerary objects'' 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 
items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    At an unknown date, cultural items were removed from two graves on 
Pope Avenue in Hanford, Benton County, WA, by Samuel D. Paddock. Prior 
to 1960, the cultural items were received by the Burke Museum and 
formally accessioned in 1986 (Burke Accn.  1986-80). The human 
remains were not transferred to the Burke Museum. The 284 unassociated 
funerary objects are 1 shell bead, 281 glass beads, 1 brass button, and 
1 copper fragment.
    Museum documentation indicates that the cultural items were 
recovered from graves, and the types of items are 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 Hanford, WA, is located 
within an overlapping aboriginal territory of descendants of the 
Yakama, Walla Walla, and Wanapum groups, which are represented today by 
the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon; and the 
Wanapum Band, a non-federally recognized Indian group.
    The Yakama Treaty, signed on June 9, 1855, included the Hanford 
area in the aboriginal territory of the present-day Confederated Tribes 
and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington. The Walla Walla people have 
also occupied this area since before historic times. As per the Treaty 
of Walla Walla, signed on June 9, 1855, the Walla Walla people are 
represented by the present-day Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla 
Reservation, Oregon. The Wanapum Band occupied the Hanover area, which 
is now designated the U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Site, as 
recently as World War II, when they moved to the Priest Rapids area.
    Officials of the Department of Energy and the Burke Museum have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the 284 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. Officials of the Department of Energy and 
Burke 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 objects and the Confederated 
Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington, and Confederated 
Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon. Furthermore, officials of 
the Department of Energy and the Burke Museum have determined that 
there is a cultural relationship between the unassociated funerary 
objects 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 284 unassociated funerary objects 
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 November 13, 2006. Repatriation of the unassociated 
funerary objects to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla 
Reservation, Oregon, and Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama 
Nation, Washington, for themselves and on behalf of the Wanapum Band, a 
non-federally recognized Indian group, may proceed after that date if 
no additional claimants come forward. The Confederated Tribes and Bands 
of the Yakama Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla 
Reservation, Oregon; and Wanapum Band, a non-federally recognized 
Indian group, are claiming jointly all cultural items from the Hanford 
area.
    The Department of Energy is responsible for notifying the 
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Washington; 
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, Oregon; and Wanapum 
Band, a non-federally recognized Indian group, that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: September 25, 2006
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E6-16924 Filed 10-11-06; 8:45 am]
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