Notice of Inventory Completion: Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, Kodiak, AK, 41521-41522 [E7-14583]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 145 (Monday, July 30, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41521-41522]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-14583]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological 
Repository, Kodiak, AK

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. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary 
objects in the possession of Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological 
Repository, Kodiak, AK. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from Afognak Island and the City of Port Lions, 
AK.
    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

[[Page 41522]]

in this notice are the sole responsibility of the museum, institution, 
or Federal agency that has control of the Native American human remains 
and associated funerary objects. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Alutiiq 
Museum and Archaeological Repository professional staff in consultation 
with representatives of the Afognak Native Corporation; Native Village 
of Afognak (formerly the Village of Afognak); Koniag, Inc.; and Native 
Village of Port Lions.
    In July and August of 1993, human remains representing a minimum of 
two individuals were removed from the Malina Creek site (49-AFG-00005) 
on northwestern Afognak Island, AK, by Dr. Richard Knecht, an 
archeologist, during an excavation on conveyed Native lands sponsored 
by the Afognak Native Corporation. At the conclusion of the excavation, 
the human remains were taken to the Kodiak Area Native Association's 
Alutiiq Culture Center for storage. In 1995, the human remains were 
transferred to the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository where 
they are currently stored (accession number AM24). The human remains 
were discovered during a collections storage improvement project in 
December of 2006. No known individuals were identified. The eight 
associated funerary objects are seven wooden planks and one wooden mask 
bangle.
    Malina Creek is a large coastal village site that overlooks 
Shelikof Strait at the mouth of Malina Creek on the northwestern coast 
of Afognak Island in Alaska's Kodiak archipelago. More than 4 meters of 
cultural deposits indicate settlement during each of Kodiak's major 
cultural traditions - Ocean Bay, Kachemak and Koniag, and historic 
Alutiiq (Russian era). Based on the stratigraphic context of one of the 
burials it is reasonably believed that one individual is from the Early 
Koniag phase of the Koniag tradition. The other individual was removed 
from slumped deposits along the site's erosion face. Although the depth 
of this find is unknown, field notes from an adjacent pit test indicate 
that deposits in this area are prehistoric and that the majority date 
to the Koniag and Kachemak traditions. As such, the human remains are 
believed to be Native American and to be most closely affiliated with 
the contemporary Alutiiq people. Many archeologists believe that people 
of the Kachemak tradition are ancestral to people of the Koniag 
tradition who are the direct ancestors of contemporary Alutiiqs. 
Specifically, the human remains were recovered from an area of the 
archipelago traditionally used by members of the Native Village of 
Afognak (formerly the Village of Afognak) and Native Village of Port 
Lions.
    In June of 1994, human remains representing a minimum of one 
individual were removed from an eroding bank near the City of Port 
Lions, AK, by Charles Kramer. Mr. Kramer gave the human remains to the 
Alaska State Troopers in July of 1994. The Alaska State Troopers sent 
the human remains to the State Office of History and Archaeology and 
subsequently relinquished control of and transferred the human remains 
to Kodiak Area Native Association's Alutiiq Culture Center in November 
1994. In 1995, the human remains were transferred to the Alutiiq Museum 
and Archaeological Repository where they are currently stored 
(accession number AM40). No known individual was identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    Although the exact archeological site from which the human remains 
originated is not recorded, the findings of the state archeologist 
suggest that the human remains are those of a prehistoric person. Many 
archeologists believe that the region's cultural sequence represents a 
period of evolutionary growth over a 7,500 year period with the 
earliest colonizers evolving into the Alutiiq societies recorded at 
historic contact. As such, the human remains are reasonably believed to 
be Native American and most closely affiliated with the contemporary 
Native residents of the Kodiak archipelago, the Kodiak Alutiiq. 
Specifically, the human remains were recovered from an area of the 
archipelago traditionally used by members of the Native Village of 
Afognak (formerly the Village of Afognak) and Native Village of Port 
Lions.
    Descendants of the Kodiak Alutiiq are members of the Afognak Native 
Corporation; Native Village of Afognak (formerly the Village of 
Afognak); Koniag, Inc.; and Native Village of Port Lions.
    Officials of the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains 
described above represent the physical remains of three individuals of 
Native American ancestry. Officials of the Alutiiq Museum and 
Archaeological Repository also have determined that, pursuant to 25 
U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the eight objects 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. 
Lastly, officials of the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository 
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 Native American human remains and associated funerary 
objects and the Afognak Native Corporation; Native Village of Afognak 
(formerly the Village of Afognak); Koniag, Inc.; and Native Village of 
Port Lions.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Dr. Sven Haakanson, Jr., Executive Director, 
Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, 215 Mission Rd., Suite 
101, Kodiak, AK 99615, telephone (907) 486-7004, before August 29, 
2007. Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
to the Afognak Native Corporation; Native Village of Afognak (formerly 
the Village of Afognak); Koniag, Inc.; and Native Village of Port Lions 
may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository is responsible for 
notifying the Afognak Native Corporation; Native Village of Afognak 
(formerly the Village of Afognak); Koniag, Inc.; and Native Village of 
Port Lions that this notice has been published.

    Dated: July 6, 2007.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-14583 Filed 7-27-07; 8:45 am]
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