[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 104 (Wednesday, June 1, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31526-31527]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-10808]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: Oakland Museum of California, 
Oakland, CA

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 possession of the Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, 
CA. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from 
Mineral Creek in Pinal County, AZ.
    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 Oakland 
Museum of California professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Gila River Indian Community of the Gila River 
Indian Reservation, Arizona. The Gila River Indian Community of the 
Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona is acting on behalf of the Ak 
Chin Indian Community of the Maricopa (Ak Chin) Indian Reservation, 
Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River 
Reservation, Arizona; Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona, and themselves.
    At an unknown date, human remains representing a minimum of one 
individual were removed from Mineral Creek in Pinal County, AZ , by 
person(s) unknown. In 1914, Mr. Otho Moses donated the human remains as 
part of a collection of geological and ethnographic materials to the 
Oakland Public Museum (now Oakland Museum of California). It is unknown 
how or when Mr. Moses acquired the human remains. No known individual 
was identified. The one associated funerary object is a bone awl.
    Information in the Oakland Museum of California's records describes 
the site from which the human remains and associated funerary objects 
were removed as being located 15 or 16 miles up the Gila River from 
Florence, AZ. Based on geographic location, skeletal morphology, and 
analysis of the associated funerary object, this individual has been 
identified as a Native American of Hohokam affiliation. Archeological, 
historical, and oral tradition evidence indicate that there is a 
relationship of shared group identity between the Hohokam people and 
the present-day Piman and O'odham cultures, represented by the Ak-Chin 
Indian Community of the Maricopa (Ak Chin) Indian Reservation, Arizona; 
Gila River Indian Community of the Gila River Indian Reservation, 
Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River 
Reservation, Arizona; and Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona.
    Officials of the Oakland Museum of California 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 Oakland Museum of California also have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the one object 
described above is 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 Oakland Museum of 
California 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 object and the Ak-Chin Indian Community of the Maricopa (Ak 
Chin) Indian Reservation, Arizona; Gila River Indian Community of the 
Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian 
Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona; and Tohono O'odham 
Nation of Arizona.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
object should contact Carey T. Caldwell, Curator of Special Projects, 
Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94607, 
telephone (510) 238-3842, before July 1, 2005. Repatriation of the 
human remains and associated funerary object to the Gila River Indian 
Community of the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward. The Ak-Chin 
Indian Community of the Maricopa (Ak Chin) Indian Reservation, Arizona; 
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River 
Reservation, Arizona; and Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona supports the 
repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary object to the 
Gila River Indian Community of the Gila River Indian Reservation, 
Arizona.
    The Oakland Museum of California is responsible for notifying the 
Ak-Chin Indian Community of the Maricopa (Ak Chin) Indian Reservation, 
Arizona; Gila River Indian Community of the Gila River Indian 
Reservation, Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian

[[Page 31527]]

Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona; and Tohono O'odham 
Nation of Arizona that this notice has been published.

    Dated: May 20, 2005.
Paul Hoffman,
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fish and Wildlife and Parks.
[FR Doc. 05-10808 Filed 5-31-05; 8:45 am]
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