[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 128 (Thursday, July 3, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39969-39970]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-16808]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of 
the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law 
Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM

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 (NAGPRA), 43 CFR 10.8 (f), of the 
intent to repatriate cultural items in the possession of the U.S. 
Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of 
Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, that meet the definitions of sacred 
objects and cultural patrimony under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 within this notice are the sole responsibility of 
the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the 
cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations within this notice.
    The 13 cultural items are 1 bundle that includes an ear of corn and 
eagle feathers; 2 cylindrical buffalo hide containers or parfleches; 1 
felt bag that contains several smaller leather bags of herbs; 1 beaded 
leather bag; 1 leather bag containing beads; 1 leather bag; 2 stone 
anthropomorphic figures; 1 headpiece or tablita, consisting of a 
painted wooden board; and 3 wooden arrow sticks or hair ties, with 
migratory bird feathers attached.
    During 1999 and 2000, the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, 
participated in an undercover investigation of several individuals 
believed to be engaged in the illegal trafficking of Native American 
cultural items. Federal agents purchased or seized several cultural 
items as part of the investigation. On September 10, 2002, Joshua Baer 
and Thomas Cavaliere each pled guilty to three counts of illegal 
trafficking of Native American cultural items obtained in violation of

[[Page 39970]]

18 U.S.C. 1170 (b). On January 3 and February 12, 2003, the U.S. 
District Court for the District of New Mexico ordered that all items 
seized during the investigation be forfeited to the U.S. Department of 
the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law 
Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, and repatriated to the culturally 
affiliated Indian tribes. The 13 cultural items are part of the items 
forfeited to the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM.
    The U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Office of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, prepared a summary 
of the cultural items obtained during the investigation. The U.S. 
Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of 
Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, also consulted with representatives 
of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico & 
Utah; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo 
of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico; and Zuni 
Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
    Representatives of the Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico 
identified the 13 cultural items as ceremonial objects needed for the 
practice of traditional religion. They considered the bundle with the 
ear of corn and eagle feathers to be a very sacred object that was not 
supposed to be removed from the kiva. Similar bundles have been 
identified in the anthropological literature as corn mothers that are 
necessary for a variety of sacred, ritual, political, and social 
purposes. They identified the two buffalo hide parfleches as being 
needed to hold medicine items used in religious ceremonies. They 
identified the two anthropomorphic figures as items necessary for 
religious purposes. They identified the tablita and hair ties as items 
worn in particular religious ceremonies.
    The representatives of the Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico 
identified all 13 cultural items as the communal property of the pueblo 
as a whole that could not be sold or given away by an individual.
    Officials of the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(C), the 13 cultural 
items are specific ceremonial objects needed by traditional Native 
American religious leaders for the practice of traditional Native 
American religions by their present-day adherents. Officials of the 
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office 
of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, have determined that, pursuant to 
25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(D), the 13 cultural items also have ongoing 
historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to a Native 
American group or culture itself, rather than property owned by an 
individual. Officials of the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, 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 13 sacred objects/objects of cultural patrimony and the 
Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the sacred objects/objects of cultural 
patrimony should contact Special Agent Lucinda D. Schroeder, U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Service, 4901 Paseo Del Norte, Albuquerque, NM 87113, 
telephone (505) 828-3064, before August 4, 2003. Repatriation of the 
sacred objects/objects of cultural patrimony to the Pueblo of Santo 
Domingo, New Mexico may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    The U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Office of Law Enforcement, Albuquerque, NM, is responsible for 
notifying the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico 
& Utah; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico; and 
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: May 27, 2003.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources.
[FR Doc. 03-16808 Filed 7-2-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-S