[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 168 (Tuesday, August 29, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52440-52441]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-21973]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items in the Possession 
of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, 
Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM

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 Museum of Indian Arts and 
Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM 
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 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.
    Three cultural items are a fillet-rimmed ceramic bowl, a bone bead, 
and one lot of bone awls.
    While these three cultural items are recorded as excavated from 
numbered burials at site LA95 (Quavai site), Torrance County, NM, the 
human

[[Page 52441]]

remains are not in the collections of the Museum of Indian Arts and 
Culture. No information exists to indicate whether the human remains 
were not recovered, or whether the human remains are or were in the 
possession of another unknown institution.
    Based on material culture, architectural features, and documentary 
evidence, site LA 95 has been dated to the Pueblo III through the early 
historic period (A.D. 1100-1680).
    One cultural item is one lot of ceramic sherds.
    In 1958, this one cultural item was excavated from site LA 97 (Abo 
site), Torrance County, NM during legally authorized excavations 
conducted by a Museum of New Mexico employee. While these cultural 
items are recorded as excavated from a numbered burial, the human 
remains are not in the collections of the Museum of Indian Arts and 
Culture. Based on the excavation notes, it is presumed that the human 
remains were too fragile to be excavated and were not recovered.
    Based on material culture and architectural features, site LA 97 
has been dated to the Pueblo IV through the early historic period (A.D. 
1300-1680). Based on archeological context and regional cultural 
chronology, these sites have been identified as Ancestral Puebloan. 
Historical evidence also records these sites as trade centers that 
enjoyed frequent contact with non-Puebloan tribes.
    Based on the above-mentioned information, officials of the Museum 
of Indian Arts and Culture have determined that, pursuant to 43 CFR 
10.2 (d)(2)(ii), these four cultural items 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 
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture 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 Pueblo of 
Acoma, New Mexico; the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; the Pueblo of Isleta, New 
Mexico; the Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; the Pueblo of Santo Domingo, 
New Mexico; the Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of 
Texas; the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico; and a non-
Federally recognized Indian group, the Piro-Manso-Tiwa Tribe. This 
notice has been sent to officials of the Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; 
the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; the Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; the Pueblo 
of Jemez, New Mexico; the Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma; the Mescalero 
Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; the Pueblo of 
Santo Domingo, New Mexico; the Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; the Wichita 
and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco, and Tawakonie), Oklahoma; 
Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas; and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni 
Reservation, New Mexico. Representatives of any other Indian tribe that 
believes itself to be culturally affiliated with these unassociated 
funerary objects should contact Dr. Duane Anderson, Director, Museum of 
Indian Arts and Culture, P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, NM 87504, telephone 
(505) 476-1251, before September 28, 2000. Repatriation of these 
unassociated funerary objects to the culturally affiliated tribes may 
begin after that date if no additional claimants come forward.

    Dated: August 11, 2000.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships.
[FR Doc. 00-21973 Filed 8-28-00; 8:45 am]
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