Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2914 [2019-01627]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 27 (Friday, February 8, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Page 2914]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-01627]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0027194; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Thomas Burke 
Memorial Washington State Museum, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum (Burke 
Museum), in consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes or Native 
Hawaiian organizations, has determined that the cultural item listed in 
this notice meets the definition of an unassociated funerary object. 
Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
this cultural item should submit a written request to the Burke Museum. 
If no additional claimants come forward, transfer of control of the 
cultural item to the lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, or Native 
Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim this cultural item should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to the Burke Museum at the address 
in this notice by March 11, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Peter Lape, Burke Museum, University of Washington, Box 
353010, Seattle, WA 98195, telephone (206) 685-3849 Ext 2, email 
plape@uw.edu.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 under the 
control of the Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum, 
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, that meets the definition of an 
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 Native 
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Item(s)

    In 1946, one cultural item was removed from site 45-SJ-21, Guss 
Island, in San Juan County, WA, during a survey by B. Lane and F. 
Barnett. Lane and Barnett were accompanied by Arden King, who directed 
a University of Washington field school on San Juan Island from 1946-
1947. The cultural item was accessioned by the Burke Museum in 1951 
(Burke Accn. #3649) along with other archeological material from the 
field school. The one unassociated funerary object is a broken 
hammerstone.
    Guss Island, located in Garrison Bay on San Juan Island, is within 
the aboriginal territory of the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi Reservation. 
Information provided during consultation indicates that it was used as 
a burial island, which corresponds with archeological evidence of 
Native American canoe burials on Guss Island. Lummi oral tradition and 
anthropological data clearly associate the Lummi with San Juan Island, 
including Guss Island (Suttles 1951, 1990). The archeological record 
shows continuous habitation from approximately 2000 years ago through 
the mid-19th century by Northern Straits peoples who were ancestral to 
the Lummi Tribe. Oral tradition, archeological evidence and 
ethnographic accounts all support a cultural affiliation between the 
unassociated funerary object from Guss Island and the Lummi Tribe of 
the Lummi Reservation.

Determinations Made by the Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State 
Museum

    Officials of the Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State 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 are believed, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual.
     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 Lummi Tribe of the Lummi 
Reservation.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
this cultural item should submit a written request with information in 
support of the claim to Peter Lape, Burke Museum, University of 
Washington, Box 353010, Seattle, WA 98195, telephone (206) 685-3849 Ext 
2, email plape@uw.edu, by March 11, 2019. After that date, if no 
additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control of the 
unassociated funerary object to the Lummi Tribe of the Lummi 
Reservation may proceed.
    The Burke Museum is responsible for notifying the Lummi Tribe of 
the Lummi Reservation that this notice has been published.

    Dated: December 17, 2018.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2019-01627 Filed 2-7-19; 8:45 am]
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