[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 208 (Friday, October 27, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Page 55046]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-26703]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items within the Rainbow 
House Collection, Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos County, NM

AGENCY: National Park Service

ACTION: Notice

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    Notice is hereby given under the Native American Graves Protection 
and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3005(a)(2), of the intent to repatriate 
cultural items from Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos County, NM, 
which meet the definition of ``sacred object'' as defined in section 2 
of the Act.
    The detailed inventory and assessment of these objects has been 
made by National Park Service professional staff, in consultation with 
representatives of the Pueblo of Santa Clara; Pueblo of San Ildefonso; 
Pueblo of Cochiti; Pueblo of Zia; Pueblo of San Felipe; Pueblo of 
Isleta; Pueblo of Tesuque; Pueblo of Jemez; Pueblo of Laguna; Pueblo of 
Acoma; Pueblo of Santa Ana; Pueblo of Sandia; Pueblo of Santo Domingo; 
Pueblo of Zuni; Ysleta del Sur Pueblo; and Tewa representatives of the 
Hopi Tribe.
    Between 1948 and 1955, Fredrick Worman of Adams State College, CO 
and Louis Caywood of the National Park Service, carried out legally 
authorized archeological excavations on Federal public lands, including 
the Rainbow House archeological site [LA 217] within Bandelier National 
Monument. At Rainbow House one hundred rooms were excavated, as well as 
a kiva and an associated plaza. The occupation date assigned to Rainbow 
House was between AD 1412-1453.
    The thirty-two objects include: eight pipes, three figurines, one 
bowl, four pendants, two cylinders, one shell tinkler, one axe, one 
groundstone, two kiva bells, one hoe, one stone artifact, two stone 
balls, three bone whistles, one bone rasp, one flute. All of these 
items were recovered from the kiva and plaza area. Pueblo traditional 
religious leaders and other official tribal representatives have stated 
that these specific objects are, and were at the time they were 
separated from the Pueblo, needed for the practice of traditional 
Pueblo religion by present-day adherents.
    Based on provenience data from the original field notes prepared 
during excavation, the anthropological literature pertinent to Rainbow 
House and other Ancestral Puebloan sites in the surrounding area, and 
in consultation with Pueblo representatives and traditional religious 
leaders, officials of the National Park Service have determined that 
these thirty-two objects are specific ceremonial objects which are 
needed by Pueblo religious leaders for the practice of traditional 
Pueblo religion by their present-day adherents.
    Artifactual evidence does not allow specific identification of a 
single culturally affiliated Indian tribe. However, examination of the 
objects specified above and oral history regarding traditional and 
religious practices indicate probable cultural affiliation between the 
objects and various Pueblo Indian groups. Based on the above-mentioned 
information, officials of the National Park Service have determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is a relationship of shared 
group identify which can be reasonably traced between these sacred 
objects and the Pueblo of Santa Clara; Pueblo of San Ildefonso; Pueblo 
of Cochiti; Pueblo of Zia; Pueblo of San Felipe; Pueblo of Isleta; 
Pueblo of Tesuque; Pueblo of Jemez; Pueblo of Laguna; Pueblo of Zuni 
and Tewa of the Hopi Tribe. Other Pueblo peoples may also be culturally 
affiliated with these cultural items. The Pueblo of Taos; Pueblo of 
Picuris; Pueblo of San Juan; Pueblo of Nambe; and Pueblo of Pojoaque 
have declined to participate in consultation efforts to date.
    This notice has been sent to consultation representatives of the 
following Indian tribes: Pueblo of Santa Clara; Pueblo of San 
Ildefonso; Pueblo of Cochiti; Pueblo of Zia; Pueblo of San Felipe; 
Pueblo of Isleta; Pueblo of Tesuque; Pueblo of Jemez; Pueblo of Laguna; 
Pueblo of Acoma, Pueblo of Santa Ana; Pueblo of Sandia; Pueblo of Santo 
Domingo; Pueblo of Zuni; Ysleta del Sur Pueblo; and the Hopi Tribe.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe which believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with these objects should contact 
Superintendent Roy W. Weaver, Bandelier National Monument, HCR 1 Box 1 
Suite 15, Los Alamos, NM, 87544, telephone: (505) 672-3861 fax (505) 
672-9607, before November 27, 1995. Repatriation of these objects may 
begin after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
Dated: October 23, 1995
Veletta Canouts
Acting Departmental Consulting Archeologist,
Archeology and Ethnography Program
[FR Doc. 95-26703 Filed 10-26-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F