[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 160 (Thursday, August 20, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42096-42097]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-19982]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: State of Alaska, Alaska State 
Office of History and Archaeology, Anchorage, 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 in the control of the State 
of Alaska, Alaska Office of History and Archaeology, Anchorage, AK, and 
in the possession of the Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, 
Kodiak, AK.

[[Page 42097]]

The human remains were removed from Chiniak, 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. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made on behalf of 
the Alaska State Office of History and Archaeology by Alutiiq Museum 
and Archaeological Repository staff in consultation with 
representatives of Koniag, Inc.; Leisnoi, Inc.; Lesnoi Village (aka 
Woody Island); Natives of Kodiak, Inc.; and Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak.
    Between 1989 and 1991, human remains representing a minimum of 
three individuals were removed from the Rice Ridge site (49-KOD-00363) 
near Chiniak, AK, during an excavation by Philomena Hausler Knecht, a 
Harvard University graduate student. At the conclusion of the 
excavation all of these human remains were taken to the Kodiak Area 
Native Association's Alutiiq Culture Center for study and storage. In 
April 1995, the entire site collection was transferred to the newly 
founded Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository where they are now 
stored in association with accession AM19. No known individuals were 
identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    The human remains from Rice Ridge were found spread in the site's 
lower midden deposits, and not in association with identified burials. 
With the exception of 13 teeth and a few small cranial fragments, the 
remains were identified as human after the excavation and were found in 
faunal samples over a period of years.
    The Rice Ridge site is a large, prehistoric deposit that lies near 
the coast of Chiniak Bay, on northern Kodiak Island in Alaska's Kodiak 
archipelago. Carbon dates and temporally diagnostic artifacts 
illustrate that the site contains a series of distinct occupations that 
span the Ocean Bay tradition, with initial settlement at about 7100 BP 
and site abandonment after 4400 BP. The human remains described above 
were found in association with midden deposits at the site. Depth 
measurements indicate that the human remains are primarily associated 
with the deeper and thus older levels of the deposit and indicate an 
early known expression of the Ocean Bay tradition. Recent archeological 
research in the Kodiak archipelago and Chiniak Bay region specifically 
illustrates that the Ocean Bay tradition is ancestral to the sequent 
Kachemak tradition, which is in turn ancestral to the Koniag tradition 
observed at historic contact. Many Kodiak archeologists believe that 
modern Alutiiqs can trace their ancestors back to the Ocean Bay 
tradition. As such, human remains from the Rice Ridge site are presumed 
to be Native American and most closely affiliated with the contemporary 
Native residents of the Kodiak archipelago, the Kodiak Alutiiq. 
Specifically, they are from an area traditionally used by citizens and 
shareholders of Koniag, Inc.; Leisnoi, Inc.; Lesnoi Village (aka Woody 
Island); Natives of Kodiak, Inc.; and Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak.
    Officials of the Alaska State Office of History and Archaeology and 
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 at least three individuals of Native 
American ancestry. Officials of the Alaska State Office of History and 
Archaeology and Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository 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 Native American human remains and Koniag, Inc.; Leisnoi, 
Inc.; Lesnoi Village (aka Woody Island); Natives of Kodiak, Inc.; and 
Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains 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 September 21, 2009. Repatriation of the human 
remains to Koniag, Inc.; Leisnoi, Inc.; Lesnoi Village (aka Woody 
Island); Natives of Kodiak, Inc.; and Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak may 
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository is responsible for 
notifying Koniag, Inc.; Leisnoi, Inc.; Lesnoi Village (aka Woody 
Island); Natives of Kodiak, Inc.; and Sun'aq Tribe of Kodiak that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: July 31, 2009.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-19982 Filed 8-19-09; 8:45 am]
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