[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 52 (Thursday, March 18, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13444-13447]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-6658]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion for Native American Human Remains
and Associated Funerary Objects in the Possession of the National Park
Service, Pecos National Historical Park, Pecos, NM
AGENCY: National Park Service DOI.
ACTION: Notice.
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Notice is hereby given in accordance with the provisions of the
Native
[[Page 13445]]
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 43 CFR 10.9,
of the completion of the inventory of human remains and associated
funerary objects in the possession of the National Park Service, Pecos
National Historical Park, Pecos, New Mexico.
A detailed assessment of the human remains and associated funerary
objects was made by professionals with or working for the National Park
Service in consultation with representatives of the Apache Tribe of
Oklahoma; Comanche Indian Tribe of Oklahoma; Fort McDowell Mohave-
Apache Community of the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, Arizona; Fort
Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Jicarilla Apache
Tribe of the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation, New Mexico; Kaibab
Band of Paiute Indian of the Kaibab Indian Reservation, Arizona; Kiowa
Indian Tribe of Oklahoma; Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero
Reservation, New Mexico; Navajo Nation of New Mexico, Arizona, and
Utah; Pawnee Indian Tribe of Oklahoma; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico;
Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of
Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New
Mexico; Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico; Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico;
Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico;
Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; Pueblo
of Tesuque, New Mexico; Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico;
San Carlos Apache Tribe of the San Carlos Reservation, Arizona;
Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado;
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, Colorado;
White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona;
Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco, and Tawakonie),
Oklahoma; and Yavapai-Apache Nation of the Camp Verde Indian
Reservation, Arizona. Invited to consult but not responding were the
Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico; the Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico; the
Pueblo of San Juan, New Mexico; the Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico,
Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico; and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo of Texas.
Human occupation and use of what is now Pecos National Historical
Park began 12,000 years ago and continued nearly uninterrupted until
1989, with a full-time Native American community absent since 1838.
From what is known thus far, there were no inhabitants in the park
between about AD 950 and 1100. There is evidence from archeology,
ethnography, history, linguistics, and oral traditions that after AD
1100, individuals of various cultural groups visited and occupied the
area now encompassed by Pecos NHP, especially after the second half of
the 1300s. It was during these years that occupants of the six or seven
moderately sized pueblos in the valley intentionally built and shifted
their residences to one great pueblo known as Cicuye, or Pecos Pueblo,
and conscientiously nurtured the cultural diversity that had apparently
just begun. The activities set Pecos Pueblo apart from most other
pueblos and resulted in the incorporation of people from many other
pueblos and Great Plains tribes. Incorporation was by marriage, as a
refugee, individual choice as a single person, trading in of captives,
or taking captives directly during raids. The degree of acculturation
that occurred, by either social mandate or individual preference, is
emerging as one of the next great topics of research. As was the custom
in the valley before arrival of the Spanish, human remains were usually
buried in or near habitation structures but not in formal cemeteries.
Judging from the archeological evidence in pottery production,
permeation of traded items, range of architectural styles, and
linguistic diversity noted by the Spanish, Pecos Pueblo was a
cosmopolitan village unlike its contemporaries or prior settlements.
The first Spanish contact with the people of Pecos Pueblo in 1540
also marks the first written history of the area. A Christian mission
was established next to Pecos Pueblo by 1620 and Hispanic homesteads in
the surrounding area gradually added to the area's population. The
mission was run by various men in the Franciscan Order of the Roman
Catholic church. Their primary role was to acculturate the native
population into a new way of life, especially in the realm of religion,
as well as service the local Hispanic colonists' religious needs such
as baptisms, marriages, and burials. The friars at Pecos took anyone
into the Christian fold. According to historic documents, the
mechanisms to do so included trading for captives (usually children),
marrying into the faith, free persons voluntarily accepting
acculturation, expedient baptizing of elderly moments before death, and
taking in refugees or those ``just passing through.'' Pueblo and Plains
captives incorporated into local families and the missionaries'
household or work force was a standard and accepted part of the social
make up of the resident valley population from the late 1300s up until
1809. The friars buried their ``members'' in the formal cemeteries
adjacent to the mission.
Disease, raids for food and captives, and emigrations profoundly
affected the Native American population and as their numbers dwindled,
the non-Native American population increased. The last emigration of
Native Americans living in the park was in 1838 when the Pecos Pueblo
governor and most of the remaining two dozen or so puebloans relocated
to the Pueblo of Jemez. A 1936 Act of Congress legally established the
administrative and fiduciary responsibilities of the Pueblo of Jemez
for the Pecos Pueblo People. The Act reflects the role the Pueblo of
Jemez has assumed to integrate Pecos' sacred knowledge and rituals into
the Jemez community since the 1838 emigration from Pecos Pueblo.
Scientific investigations began in earnest in 1914 although some
documentation from the 1880s exists. There are some official
demographic records for the area. The earliest known sacramental
records are from 1694 and later. Such record keeping was done from 1620
to 1693 but are presumed to have been destroyed in the 1680 revolt. All
census records for the valley post date 1840.
None of the human remains on the park's culturally affiliated
NAGPRA inventory are from Pecos Pueblo and only the four individuals
from the Christian cemetery had associated funerary objects. The
process followed to determine cultural affiliation, given the
circumstances of cultural diversity and few or no associated funerary
items, was to first establish biological affiliation using a standard
physical anthropological assessment and then determine the era to which
the remains date by analyzing their context in the archeological
record. It was then determined using archeological, ethnographic,
historic, and geographic evidence as well as information acquired
through consultation, which Indian tribes of today had an ancestral
presence at the estimated time of interment. Those identified are the
Native American affiliates that have been determined to have a vested
interest under the terms of NAGPRA.
In 1977, human remains representing one individual were recovered
from the Sewer Line site during legally authorized excavations
conducted by the National Park Service. No known individuals were
identified. No funerary objects were present.
The pithouse's age dates to about AD 840 and the fill in which the
remains came date between AD 840 and 900. Plainly made pottery and
puebloan masonry architecture at the Sewer Line
[[Page 13446]]
site are hallmarks of other pithouse sites that, as material culture,
represent a non-specific puebloan culture. Pithouses are associated
with the first signs of a sedentary lifestyle in the southwest that
developed into today's pueblo descendants. Oral traditional evidence
has led to the conventional understanding that the Pecos puebloan
pithouses represent a basic native population that is recounted in all
of the pueblos today and that all puebloan peoples view these early
pithouse sites as ancestral. Officials of the National Park Service
relied upon archeological, geographical, and oral traditional evidence
to determine the cultural affiliation of these human remains.
Based on the above mentioned information, officials of the National
Park Service have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d)(1), the
human remains listed above represent the physical remains of 1
individual of Native American ancestry. Officials of the National Park
Service have also determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (e), there
is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably
traced between these Native American human remains and the Pueblo of
Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico; Hopi Tribe of
Arizona; Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico;
Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico; Pueblo of
Picuris, New Mexico; Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo of Sandia,
New Mexico; Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Ildefonso,
New Mexico; Pueblo of San Juan, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Ana, New
Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New
Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico;
Ysleta del Sur Pueblo of Texas; Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico; and Zuni
Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
In 1983, human remains representing one individual were recovered
from the fill of a pithouse below the historic Square Ruin site during
legally authorized excavations conducted by the National Park Service.
No known individuals were identified. No funerary objects were present.
The remains were unintentionally exhumed from rodent-churned
deposits from immediately above a primary burial that was not removed.
The park is prepared to reinter these remains with the burial still in
place. The context of the remains predates and is not associated with
the historic component of the Square Ruin site and post dates the
pithouse. The remains were surrounded by numerous prehistoric puebloan
pottery pieces and stone artifacts whose precise stratigraphical
position in the deposit were in disarray due to rodent activity. The
types and ages of such prehistoric puebloan artifacts is well
established as a result of research over the past 100 years. The
ceramic assemblage from the level of the burial and immediately above
is from the black-on-white tradition dating from AD 1175 to 1350. The
park's ethnographic overview describes cultural relationships between
certain modern pueblos and early pueblo occupation in the park that are
consistent with the age determination of the human remains based on the
surrounding artifacts. For instance, there are several Cochiti
residents with surnames, such as ``Pecos,'' that their oral traditions
indicate are references to inter-pueblo transfers or migrations that
probably extend back into prehistoric times. Early Spanish records also
document movement of residents between the Pecos Valley and the Pueblos
of Jemez, Cochiti, and Santo Domingo, that had been occurring since
sometime before the Spanish arrival in New Mexico. Scholars and
community elders from these three pueblos contend that while the
predominant language of the recipient pueblos was learned by new
residents, traces of the immigrants' first language remain in the
traditional stories and names at the integrating pueblos. This is most
clearly apparent at the Pueblo of Jemez. Officials of the National Park
Service relied upon archeological, ethnographic, historical literature,
linguistic, geographic, ethnographic, and oral traditional evidence to
determine the cultural affiliation of these human remains.
Based on the above information, officials of the National Park
Service have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d)(1), the human
remains listed above represent the physical remains of 1 individual of
Native American ancestry. Officials of the National Park Service have
also determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (e), there is a shared
group identity that can be reasonably traced between these Native
American human remains and the Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of
Cochiti, New Mexico; and Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico.
In 1976, human remains representing one individual were recovered
from an eroding bank located adjacent to three archeological sites
during legally authorized excavations by the National Park Service. No
known individuals were identified. No funerary objects were present.
The remains were exhumed from their primary burial context. The
three archeological sites are Forked Lightning Pueblo, LA14118, and
LA14125, and their occupation dates range from AD 1175 to 1425. Datable
objects from these three sites overlay the burial. A cultural resources
inventory surface survey documents several ancestral plains and pueblo
sites that were occupied during this time period, especially during its
last century. The tipi rings, upright slab small structure, and
diagnostic stone tools indicate that the plains sites are of Apache and
Wichita ancestry. Consultation and an ethnographic overview have
further identified the primary Apachean affiliates as the Jicarilla,
Mescalero, and Apache Tribe of Oklahoma. When the Spanish arrived and
made contact in 1540, they noted the presence of Wichita, someone from
the then Florida area, and Kiowa in somewhat elite socio-political
standing, in addition to the Apacheans. Historians continue to
supplement evidence of these Plains tribes with one identifying the
``Floridian'' as Pawnee but there is yet to be discovered another line
of evidence to corroborate this or the presence of other Pawnee. The
Kiowa connection ``to Pecos are as historically valid as those of the
Comanches and Plains Apaches,'' according to the ethnographic overview.
There is, however, no evidence to suggest that the Comanches were
present earlier than 1700-1720. Comparatively, there is abundant
information on the cultural connection with Santo Domingo, Cochiti, and
Jemez, and to a lesser degree, Hopi. Emigrations from Pecos to the
three former pueblos is cited in Kessell's and others' work and is
corroborated by ethnographic findings and oral histories from each of
the pueblos. There is at least one published reference to Hopi
intermarriage at Pecos. Kidder's excavations recovered a substantial
number of Hopi pottery pieces dating from the 1300-1600s. The percent
of trade items and that which represent a deeper cultural connection is
unclear. Officials of the National Park Service relied upon
archeological, ethnographic, historical literature, geographic, and
oral traditional evidence to determine the cultural affiliation of
these human remains.
Based upon the above mentioned information, officials of the
National park service have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2
(d)(1), the human remains listed above represent the physical remains
of 1 individual of Native American ancestry. Officials of the National
Park Service have also determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (e),
there is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably
[[Page 13447]]
traced between these Native American human remains and the Pueblo of
Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo or Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santo
Domingo, New Mexico; Apache Tribe of Oklahoma; Jicarilla Apache Tribe
of the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation, New Mexico; Mescalero
Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; Kiowa Indian
Tribe of Oklahoma, Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi,
Waco, and Tawakonie), Oklahoma; and the Hopi Tribe of Arizona.
In 1970, human remains representing four individuals were recovered
from the 17th century Christian mission's cemetery during legally
authorized excavations conducted by the National Park Service. No known
individuals were identified. The thirty-six associated funerary objects
associated with the four individuals are pendants and tubes made of
golden eagle bone.
The remains were exhumed from their primary burial context. The
walls of the structure next to the cemetery were destroyed in 1680. The
toppled walls overlay these burials and remained stratified in that
arrangement until the 1970 excavations. The physical attributes of the
crania identify the individuals as being of Native American ancestry.
Friars assigned to the mission during this period inconsistently
recorded daily life in journals and official records. Most of the
journals are in foreign archives, have been researched to a limited
extent, and produced up to this time no useful information on the
cultural aspects of the Native American burials in the cemetery. No
sacramental records have been found to date. Historians believe that
the well known presence of the Comanche and the more tenuously
confirmed connection with the Navajo does not occur until at least a
full generation after the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. For the purposes of
identifying cultural affiliation, the conclusion is that the era
between AD 1175 to 1450 continues with no new cultural groups
represented through 1680. Officials of the National Park Service relied
upon archeological, ethnographic, historical literature, linguistic,
geographic, and oral traditional evidence to determine the cultural
affiliation of these human remains and associated funerary objects.
Based on the above mentioned information, officials of the National
Park Service have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d)(1), the
human remains listed above represent the physical remains of 4
individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the National Park
Service have also determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (d)(2), the
36 objects 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. Lastly, officials of the National
Park Service have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (e), there
is a relationship of shared group identity which can be reasonably
traced between these Native American human remains and associated
funerary objects and the Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of
Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico; Apache Tribe
of Oklahoma, Jicarilla Apache Tribe of the Jicarilla Apache Indian
Reservation, New Mexico; Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero
Reservation, New Mexico; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Wichita and Affiliated
Tribes (Wichita, Kechi, Waco, and Tawakonie), Oklahoma; and the Kiowa
Indian Tribe of Oklahoma.
This notice has been sent to officials of the Apache Tribe of
Oklahoma; Comanche Indian Tribe, Oklahoma; Jicarilla Apache Tribe of
the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation, New Mexico; Kiowa Indian Tribe
of Oklahoma; Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New
Mexico; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Navajo Nation of New Mexico, Arizona,
and Utah; Pawnee Indian Tribe of Oklahoma; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico;
Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of
Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New
Mexico; Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico; Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico;
Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico; Pueblo
of San Ildefonso, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Juan, New Mexico; Pueblo of
Santa Ana, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of
Santo Domingo, New Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; Pueblo of
Tesuque, New Mexico; Ysleta del Sur Pueblo of Texas; Pueblo of Zia, New
Mexico; Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico; and the Wichita
and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco, and Tawakonie), Oklahoma.
Representatives of any other Indian tribes that believe itself to be
culturally affiliated with these human remains and associated funerary
objects should contact Duane L. Alire, Superintendent, Pecos National
Historical Park, P.O. Box 418, Pecos, New Mexico 87552; telephone (505)
757-6414, before [thirty days after publication in the Federal
Register]. Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary
objects to the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma; Jicarilla Apache Tribe of the
Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation, New Mexico; Kiowa Indian Tribe of
Oklahoma; Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New
Mexico; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of
Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New
Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico;
Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico; Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo
of Sandia, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico; Pueblo of San
Ildefonso, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Juan, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa
Ana, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santo
Domingo, New Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; Pueblo of Tesuque, New
Mexico; Ysleta del Sur Pueblo of Texas; Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico; Zuni
Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico; and the Wichita and
Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco, and Tawankonie), Oklahoma may
begin after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
Dated: March 12, 1999.
Veletta Canouts,
Acting Departmental Consulting Archeologist,
Deputy Manager, Archeology and Ethnography Program.
[FR Doc. 99-6658 Filed 3-17-99; 8:45 am]
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