Notice of Inventory Completion: City of Larsen Bay, Larsen Bay, AK and Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, Kodiak, AK, 2524 [E8-622]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 15, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 2524]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-622]



[[Page 2524]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: City of Larsen Bay, Larsen Bay, 
AK and 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 control of the City of Larsen Bay, Larsen Bay, AK, and in 
the possession of Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, Kodiak, 
AK. The human remains were removed from Larsen Bay, 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 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 Alutiiq 
Museum and Archaeological Repository professional staff on behalf of 
the City of Larsen Bay in consultation with representatives of the 
Native Village of Larsen Bay.
    In 1987 and 1988, human remains representing a minimum of five 
individuals were removed from the Uyak site (49-KOD-00145) in Larsen 
Bay, AK, during an excavation led by Amy Steffian, a graduate 
archeology student from the University of Michigan. In August of 1987, 
the human remains of one individual were shipped to Bryn Mawr College, 
Bryn Mawr, PA, for storage and study under the care of Dr. Richard 
Jordan, an archeologist, in Bryn Mawr College's Department of 
Anthropology. In 1988, Dr. Jordan moved to Fairbanks and took the 
entire Uyak site collection with him for storage at the University of 
Alaska, Department of Anthropology. In August of 1988, the human 
remains of four individuals from the second season of fieldwork were 
shipped to Dr. Jordan at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Department 
of Anthropology. After Dr. Jordan's death in 1991, the entire 
collection was moved to the University of Alaska Museum. In the summer 
of 1995, at the request of the City of Larsen Bay, the owner of the 
Uyak site, the entire collection was transferred to the Alutiiq Museum 
and Archaeological Repository (number AM3). No known individuals were 
identified. The nine funerary objects are one large coal labret, one 
ground slate projectile point, one bone wedge, one toggling harpoon, 
one leister prong, one piece of worked antler, one coal bead, one coal 
bead preform, and one ground slate ulu fragment.
    The Uyak site is a large prehistoric settlement occupied during 
both the Kachemak and Koniag traditions. The eastern portion of the 
site contained the remains of a Late Kachemak village, where well-
preserved shell midden deposits surrounded a set of single-roomed 
semisubterranean houses dating between 950 - 1300 B.P. The human 
remains were found in association with prehistoric strata, indicating 
that the human remains are associated with the occupation of the 
village. Archeologists believe that the people of the Late Kachemak 
tradition are ancestral to modern day Alutiiqs. Archeological data 
collected over the past 20 years indicates that Late Kachemak societies 
evolved into the more complexly organized societies of the Koniag 
tradition observed at historic contact in the late 18th century. As 
such, the human remains from the Uyak site 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 are from an area of the Kodiak 
archipelago traditionally used by members of the Native Village of 
Larsen Bay.
    In 1991, human remains representing a minimum of three individuals 
were removed from the Alexander Creek Site (49-KOD-00142) in Larsen 
Bay, AK, by Mike Yarborough during excavations prior to a water main 
installation project conducted by the Alaska Public Health Service. In 
July 1996, the human remains were transferred to the Alutiiq Museum and 
Archaeological Repository (number AM 234) at the request of the City of 
Larsen Bay. No known individuals were identified. No associated 
funerary objects are present.
    The Alexander Creek site lies in the City of Larsen Bay, AK, on 
southwestern Kodiak Island, under and around the intersection of First 
and Third Streets, and contains both historic and prehistoric 
components. All of the human remains were recovered from the 
prehistoric context found in association with midden deposits that 
produced a radiocarbon dated of circa 350 B.P. This places the 
prehistoric occupation of the site in the Developed Koniag phase of the 
Koniag tradition, just prior to contact, and indicates that the human 
remains are those of ancestral Alutiiqs. Specifically, the human 
remains are from an area traditionally used by members of the Native 
Village of Larsen Bay.
    Officials of the City of Larsen Bay and 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 eight individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of 
the City of Larsen Bay and Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository 
also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the nine 
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 City of 
Larsen Bay and 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 Native Village of Larsen Bay.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Allen Panamaroff, Mayor, City of Larsen Bay,
    P.O. Box 8, Larsen Bay, AK 99624, telephone (907) 847-2211, before 
February 14, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects to the Native Village of Larsen Bay may proceed after 
that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository is responsible for 
notifying the Native Village of Larsen Bay that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: December 7, 2007.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-622 Filed 1-14-08; 8:45 am]
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