[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 207 (Wednesday, October 25, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63883-63884]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-27369]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items in the Possession 
of the Alaska State Office, Bureau of Land Management, Anchorage, AK

AGENCY: National Park Service

ACTION: Notice

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    Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves Protection 
and Repatriation Act, 43 CFR 10.10 (a)(3), of the intent to repatriate 
cultural items in the possession of the Alaska State Office, Bureau of 
Land Management, Anchorage, AK that meet the definition of unassociated 
funerary object under Section 2 of the Act.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 43 CFR

[[Page 63884]]

10.2 (c). The determinations within this notice are the sole 
responsibility of the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has 
control of these cultural items. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations within this notice.
    The 302 cultural items are stone and antler arrowheads and 
arrowhead fragments, chert flake tools, stone blade inserts, and ivory 
ornamental carvings.
    During 1956-61, these cultural items were recovered by Dr. J. Louis 
Giddings during legally authorized excavations from a series of burials 
at Cape Krusenstern, Battle Rock Site vicinity, and the Choris 
Peninsula from five features judged to be former surface burials where 
all skeletal remains had completely decayed.
    Based on geographic location, archeological evidence, and types of 
objects, these cultural items have been affiliated with Inupiat Eskimo 
culture and specifically with the Native Village of Kotzebue. This 
determination of cultural affiliation has been based upon the 
continuity of Native Americans in the Kotzebue area and their oral 
tradition that the area where the remains were found is within their 
traditional territory.
    Based on the above-mentioned information, officials of the Bureau 
of Land Management have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 
10.2(d)(2)(ii), these 302 cultural items listed 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 and 
are believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed 
from a specific burial site of an Native American individual. Officials 
of the Bureau of Land Management also have determined that, pursuant to 
43 CFR 10.2(e), there is a relationship of shared group identity that 
can be reasonably traced between these items and the Native Village of 
Kotzebue. This notice has been sent to officials of the Native Village 
of Kotzebue. Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes 
itself to be culturally affiliated with these unassociated funerary 
objects should contact Dr. Robert E. King, Alaska State NAGPRA 
Coordinator, Bureau of Land Management, 222 West 7th Avenue, #13, 
Anchorage, AK 99513-7599, telephone (907) 271-5510, before November 24, 
2000. Repatriation of these unassociated funerary objects to the Native 
Village of Kotzebue may begin after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.

    Dated: October 18, 2000.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships.
[FR Doc. 00-27369 Filed 10-24-00; 8:45 am]
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