[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 225 (Tuesday, November 23, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68171-68172]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-25921]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
Bureau of Indians Affairs, Washington, DC, and Milwaukee Public Museum, 
Milwaukee, WI

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), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary 
objects in the control of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau 
of Indian Affairs, Washington, DC, and in the possession of the 
Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, WI. The human remains and 
associated funerary objects were removed from the Navajo Indian 
Reservation.
    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 in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native 
American human remains and associated funerary objects. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by Bureau of 
Indian Affairs and Milwaukee Public Museum professional staff and 
contract specialists in physical anthropology in consultation with 
representatives of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Pueblo of Acoma, New 
Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni 
Reservation, New Mexico.
    In 1925, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from the vicinity of Inscription House, Navajo Canyon, in 
Arizona, on the Navajo Indian Reservation by museum curator, Samuel A. 
Barrett, during a Milwaukee Public Museum expedition. No known 
individual was identified. The one associated funerary object is a 
potsherd.
    On the basis of stylistic attributes, the associated funerary 
object can be identified as dating to circa post[macr] A.D. 1300, the 
Pueblo IV or Pueblo V period of Anasazi culture.
    At an unknown date, human remains representing a minimum of one 
individual were removed from ruins in Navajo, AZ, on the Navajo Indian 
Reservation, by A.J. Newcomb, a trading post operator in Tohatchi, NM. 
Mr. Newcomb donated the human remains to the Milwaukee Public Museum in 
1925. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary 
objects are present.
    The human remains were removed from a refuse heap outside a kiva 
wall associated with ruins in Navajo, AZ, on the Navajo Indian 
Reservation. Objects found in the ruins but not donated to the 
Milwaukee Public Museum indicate that the formation of the refuse heap 
dates to circa A.D. 900-1600. The human remains exhibit lamboid cranial 
deformation, which is associated with the Pueblo II through Pueblo IV 
periods of Anasazi culture.
    At an unknown date, human remains representing three individuals 
were removed from ``Ruin 2, Silent City,'' presumed to be 
located near Tohatchi, NM, on the Navajo Indian Reservation by A.J. 
Newcomb. Mr. Newcomb donated the remains to the Milwaukee Public Museum 
in 1921. No known individuals were identified. The one associated 
funerary object is an earthenware pot.
    One of the individuals from the Silent City site was removed from a 
refuse heap outside a kiva wall associated with the ruins. Stylistic 
attributes of the pot identify the occupation as affiliated with the 
Anasazi culture. Stylistic attributes of the pot also date the burial 
of one of the other individuals to circa A.D. 900-1300, Pueblo II-III 
period of the archeologically defined Anasazi culture.
    Based on cranial morphology, dental traits, and associated funerary 
objects, the human remains are identified as Native American. 
Consultation evidence provided by the Hopi Tribe of Arizona indicates 
that Navajo Canyon in Arizona, and Navajo, AZ, both on the Navajo 
Indian Reservation, are part of the aboriginal territory of the Hopi 
culture, despite current occupation by the Navajo Nation, Arizona, New 
Mexico and Utah. Consultation evidence provided by representatives of 
the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of 
Laguna, New Mexico; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico 
indicates that these groups are descended from Anasazi people living in 
the vicinity of the present[macr]day Navajo Indian Reservation.
    Officials of the Bureau of Indians Affairs and the Milwaukee Public 
Museum have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the 
human remains described above represent the physical remains of at 
least five individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs and Milwaukee Public Museum also have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the two objects 
described 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 Bureau of Indian 
Affairs and Milwaukee Public Museum 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 associated funerary objects and the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Pueblo 
of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; and Zuni Tribe of 
the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Dr. Alex Barker, Anthropology Section Head, 
Milwaukee Public Museum, 800 West Wells Street, Milwaukee, WI 53233, 
telephone (414) 278-2786, before December 23, 2004. Repatriation of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to the Hopi

[[Page 68172]]

Tribe of Arizona; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New 
Mexico; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico may begin 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Bureau of Indian Affairs is responsible for notifying the Hopi 
Tribe of Arizona; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New 
Mexico; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: October 7, 2004
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 04-25921 Filed 11-22-04; 8:45 am]
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