[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 148 (Wednesday, August 3, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44689-44690]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-15320]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of 
the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, DC, and Arizona 
State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

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. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate cultural items in the control of the U.S. Department of 
the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, DC, and in the 
physical custody of the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, 
Tucson, AZ, that meet the definition of ``unassociated funerary 
objects'' 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 in 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 in this notice.
    The 14 cultural items are 8 ceramic bowl fragments, 1 ceramic bowl, 
2 ceramic jars, 2 projectile points, and 1 shell pendant.
    A detailed assessment of the cultural items was made by Bureau of 
Indian Affairs professional staff and Arizona State Museum professional 
staff in consultation with representatives of the Ak Chin Indian 
Community of the Maricopa (Ak Chin) Indian Reservation, Arizona; Gila 
River Indian Community of the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona; 
Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the 
Salt River Reservation, Arizona; Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona; and 
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico. The Zuni Tribe has 
withdrawn from this consultation. 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; and Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona; and 
themselves.
    On unknown dates between 1931 and 1934, cultural items were removed 
from cremation features at an unknown site in the vicinity of Sacaton 
(AZ U:14:-- area), Gila River Indian Reservation, Pinal County, AZ, by 
Carl A. Moosberg. The four cultural items are a shell pendant, two 
projectile points, and a ceramic jar. In 1935, the four cultural items 
were donated to the Arizona State Museum by Mr. Moosberg.
    In 1947, the two projectile points were loaned to the Maxwell 
Museum, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. In 2005, Maxwell 
Museum returned the two cultural items to the Arizona State Museum. In 
1953, the ceramic jar and shell pendant were sent to the Denver Museum 
of Natural

[[Page 44690]]

History (now the Denver Museum of Nature and Science), Denver, CO, as 
part of an exchange. In 2005, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science 
returned the two cultural items to the Arizona State Museum.
    Based on characteristics of the mortuary pattern and the attributes 
of the ceramic style, the cultural items from AZ U:14:--area have been 
identified as being associated with the Hohokam archeological 
tradition, which spanned the years circa A.D. 500-1350/1400.
    In 1963, cultural items were removed from cremation features during 
excavations at site AZ U:13:9 ASM, Gila River Indian Reservation, Pinal 
County, AZ, by Arizona State Museum staff member Alfred E. Johnson. The 
two cultural items are a ceramic jar and a ceramic bowl. In 1967, the 
two cultural items were loaned to the Milwaukee Public Museum, 
Milwaukee, WI. In 2005, the Milwaukee Public Museum returned the two 
cultural items to the Arizona State Museum.
    Based upon architecture, portable material culture, and site 
organization, occupation at site AZ U:13:9 ASM has been dated to the 
Colonial through Classic Phases of the Hohokam archeological tradition, 
approximately A.D. 700-1350/1400.
    In 1964-1965, cultural items were removed from cremation features 
at AZ U:13:24 ASM, Gila River Indian Reservation, Pinal County, AZ, 
during joint University of Arizona, Department of Anthropology and 
Arizona State Museum excavations. The eight cultural items are eight 
ceramic bowl fragments. In 2005, the ceramic bowl fragments were 
rediscovered during inventory of boxes from the office of a former 
professor. The human remains associated with the cultural items were 
reported in a Notice of Inventory Completion published in the Federal 
Register on December 29, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 251, page 83081) and 
repatriated in 2001.
    The archeological evidence, including characteristics of portable 
material culture, attributes of ceramic styles, domestic and ritual 
architecture, site organization, and canal-based agriculture of the 
settlement, places AZ U:13:24 ASM within the archeologically-defined 
Hohokam tradition and within the Phoenix Basin local variant of that 
tradition. The occupation of AZ U:13:24 ASM spans the years circa A.D. 
1150-1350/1400.
    Continuities of mortuary practices, ethnographic materials, and 
technology indicate affiliation of Hohokam settlements with present-day 
O'odham (Piman), Pee Posh (Maricopa), and Puebloan cultures. Oral 
traditions documented for the Ak Chin Indian Community of the Maricopa 
(Ak Chin) Indian Reservation, Arizona; Gila River Indian Community of 
the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Salt 
River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River Reservation, 
Arizona; Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni 
Reservation, New Mexico support affiliation with Hohokam sites in 
central Arizona.
    Officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Arizona State Museum 
have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the 14 
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 a Native 
American individual. Officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and 
Arizona State Museum 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 unassociated funerary objects 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; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa 
Indian Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona; Tohono O'odham 
Nation of Arizona; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the cultural items should contact John 
Madsen, Repatriation Coordinator, Arizona State Museum, University of 
Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, telephone (520) 621- 4795, before September 
2, 2005. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary objects to the Ak 
Chin Indian Community of the Maricopa (Ak Chin) Indian Reservation, 
Arizona; Gila River Indian Community of the Gila River Indian 
Reservation, Arizona; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa 
Indian Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona; Tohono O'odham 
Nation of Arizona; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico 
may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Arizona State Museum 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; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian 
Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona; Tohono O'odham Nation 
of Arizona; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico that 
this notice has been published.

    Dated: July 11, 2005
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 05-15320 Filed 8-2-05; 8:45 am]
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