Document Headings

                    Document headings vary by document type but may contain                    the following:                  
                -                       the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document                    
                -                       the number of the CFR title and the number of each part                      the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly                      related to                    
                -                       the agency docket number / agency internal file number                    
                -                       the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in                      the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory                      Actions                    

                    See the                                          Document Drafting Handbook                                        for more details.                  

###### Department of the Interior

###### National Park Service

          - [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036824; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

# AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

# ACTION:

Notice.

# SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM Alaska) has completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from near the Native Village of Ambler in the Northwest Arctic Borough, AK.

# DATES:

Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice may occur on or after November 24, 2023.

# ADDRESSES:

                        Robert E. King, Bureau of Land Management, 222 W 7th Avenue, #13, Anchorage, AK 99513, telephone (907) 271-5510, email                         *r2king@blm.gov.*

# SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of BLM Alaska. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice. Additional information on the determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the inventory or related records held by BLM Alaska.

## Description

Human remains representing, at minimum, 11 individuals were removed from the Northwest Arctic Borough near the Native Village of Ambler, AK. In the 1950s or 1960s, the human remains were removed from three site locations along the Kobuk River—“Ambler 1,” “Ivisahpat,” and “Onion Portage”—during a series of expeditions sponsored by the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University in Providence, RI, and conducted under the direction of Douglas Anderson. Following their removal, the human remains, which are over 150 years old, were placed in the custody of the Haffenreffer Museum, where they are currently held. The seven associated funerary objects are three caribou bone fragments, two stone flakes, and two stone or bone items.

## Cultural Affiliation

The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice are connected to one or more identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures. There is a relationship of shared group identity between the identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures and one or more Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. The following types of information were used to reasonably trace the relationship: archeological and oral traditional.

## Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, BLM Alaska has determined that:
    - The human remains described in this notice represent the physical remains of 11 individuals of Native American ancestry.
    - The seven objects described in this notice that 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.
    - There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary objects described in this notice and the Native Village of Ambler.       ( print page 73367)      

## Requests for Repatriation

                    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in                     **ADDRESSES**                    . Requests for repatriation may be submitted by:                

1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice.

2. Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice who shows, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the requestor is a lineal descendant or a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.

Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after November 24, 2023. If competing requests for repatriation are received, BLM Alaska must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing requests. BLM Alaska is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribe identified in this notice.

(Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, 10.10, and 10.14.)

 Dated: October 18, 2023.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.

[FR Doc. 2023-23539 Filed 10-24-23; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4312-52-P