[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 115 (Monday, June 16, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32652-32653]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-15682]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate a Cultural Item from Arizona in 
the Control of the Tallahassee Museum of History & Natural Science, 
Tallahassee, FL

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 a cultural item from Arizona in the control of the

[[Page 32653]]

Tallahassee Museum of History & Natural Science which meets the 
definition of ``unassociated funerary object'' under Section 2 of the 
Act.
    The cultural item is a large black ceramic pot with a wide mouth, 
smooth surface, and a rounded convex base.
    In 1962, this pot was donated to the Tallahassee Museum of History 
& Natural Science by Mr. Ed Komarek of Thomasville, GA. Accession 
information indicates that in 1960, Mr. Komarek obtained this pot 
``from a Hopi Indian who dug it out of a grave'' on Third Mesa, Hopi 
Reservation, AZ. This pot is consistent with the material culture of 
precontact Puebloan cultures widely held to be ancestral to the Hopi 
Tribe in this area. Representatives of the Hopi Tribe states this pot 
is consistent with ancestral Hopi material culture and funerary 
practice. 
    Officials of the Tallahassee Museum of History & Natural Science 
have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), this cultural 
item is 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 Tallahassee Museum of History & Natural 
Science have also determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there 
is a relationship of shared group identity which can be reasonably 
traced between this item and the Hopi Tribe.
    This notice has been sent to officials of the Hopi Tribe. 
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with these objects should contact Linda Deaton, 
Tallahassee Museum of History & Natural Science, 3945 Museum Drive, 
Tallahassee, FL 32310, telephone (904) 575-8684 before July 16, 1997. 
Transfer of control of this object to the Hopi Tribe may begin after 
that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations 
within this notice.
Dated: June 10, 1997.
Francis P. McManamon,
Departmental Consulting Archeologist,
Manager, Archeology and Ethnography Program.
[FR Doc. 97-15682 Filed 6-13-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-F