[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 169 (Friday, August 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50991-50992]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-20110]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Central Washington University, 
Department of Anthropology, Ellensburg WA

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

[[Page 50992]]

(NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the completion of an inventory of human 
remains in the possession of Central Washington University, Department 
of Anthropology, Ellensburg, WA. The human remains were removed from 
Umatilla County, OR.
    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 by Central 
Washington University, Department of Anthropology professional staff in 
consultation with representatives of the Confederated Tribes and Bands 
of the Yakama Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Colville 
Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
Reservation, Oregon; and Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs 
Reservation of Oregon.
    In 1949, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from site 35-UM-20, on the Techumtas Island in the 
Columbia River, Umatilla County, OR, by the Smithsonian River Basin 
Survey under the direction of Dr. Douglas Osborne. Site 35-UM-20 was 
one of eight sites tested during the summer of 1949. In 1974, the 
Thomas Burke Memorial Washington State Museum (Burke Museum), 
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, legally transferred the human 
remains to Central Washington University, Department of Anthropology. 
No known individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    Roger Heglar, a University of Washington graduate student, 
conducted extensive osteometric analysis of human remains at the Burke 
Museum for his 1957 Master's Thesis, ``A Racial Analysis of Indian 
Skeletal Material from the Columbia River Valley.'' Dr. Osborne 
provided some of the skeletal remains for the analysis. Heglar 
identified one individual as ``35-UM-20 Burial 2 from Cold Springs, 
Oregon (north).'' Measurements recorded by Central Washington 
University, Department of Anthropology physical anthropologist match 
Heglar's measurements of the 35-UM-20 Burial 2.
    Early and late ethnographic sources identify the area around 
Techumtas Island and Cold Springs as territory of the Cayuse, Walla 
Walla, and Umatilla tribes (Hale 1841; Stern 1998; Ray 1936). The 
Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla were separate tribes prior to the 
treaty of June 9, 1855, but were removed to the Umatilla Reservation 
under the terms of the Walla Walla Treaty. The three tribes were 
officially confederated in 1949.
    The Cold Springs area was heavily utilized by the Umatilla, 
including the spring and summer camp, tu'woyepa, on the Oregon side of 
the Columbia River, between Umatilla and Cold Springs (Ray 1936). The 
area north of Cold Springs, including Techumtas Island, is within the 
aboriginal territory of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
Reservation, Oregon, as determined by the Indian Claims Commission.
    The human remains have been determined to be Native American based 
on geographic, historical, and osteological evidence, and culturally 
affiliated to the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
Reservation, Oregon.
    Officials of the Central Washington University, Department of 
Anthropology have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), 
the human remains described above represent the physical remains of one 
individual of Native American ancestry. Officials of the Central 
Washington University Department of Anthropology 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 the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla 
Indian Reservation, Oregon.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Lourdes 
Henebry-DeLeon, NAGPRA Program Director, Central Washington University, 
Department of Anthropology, 400 East University Way, Ellensburg, WA 
98926-7544, telephone (509) 963-2671, before September 29, 2008. 
Repatriation of the human remains to the Confederated Tribes of the 
Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    The Central Washington University, Department of Anthropology is 
responsible for notifying the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the 
Yakama Nation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Colville 
Reservation, Washington; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian 
Reservation, Oregon; and Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs 
Reservation of Oregon that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 6, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-20110 Filed 8-28-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S