[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 195 (Wednesday, October 8, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58130-58131]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-25532]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: American Museum of Natural 
History, New York, NY

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves

[[Page 58131]]

Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains in the possession of the 
American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY. The human remains 
were removed from San Juan County, NM.
    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 
Native American human remains. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations within this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by American 
Museum of Natural History professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
    In 1900, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were collected by Dr. Ales Hrdlicka from a battlefield site in the 
Chuska Mountains, San Juan County, NM. No known individual was 
identified. No associated funerary objects are present. The site from 
which the human remains were removed is on the Navajo Indian 
Reservation.
    Catalog records identify the human remains as Navajo. The area from 
which the human remains were removed has been documented as an area of 
warfare between the Navajo and other groups. The human remains are from 
an area that is within the exterior boundaries of the present-day 
Navajo Indian Reservation and within post-contact Navajo territory.
    Although the lands from which the human remains were removed are 
currently under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the 
Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, the American Museum of Natural 
History has control of the human remains since the removal of the human 
remains from tribal lands predates the permit requirements established 
by the Antiquities Act of 1906.
    Officials of the American Museum of Natural History have determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains described 
above represent the physical remains of one individual of Native 
American ancestry. Officials of the American Museum of Natural History 
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 Native American human remains and the Navajo Nation, 
Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Luc 
Litwinionek, Director of Cultural Resources, American Museum of Natural 
History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, 
telephone (212) 769-5846, before November 7, 2003. Repatriation of the 
human remains to the Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah may 
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The American Museum of Natural History is responsible for notifying 
the Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: August 6, 2003.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources.
[FR Doc. 03-25532 Filed 10-7-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-70-S