[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 148 (Wednesday, August 3, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44690-44691]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-15321]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: 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. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains 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. The human remains were removed from sites within 
the boundaries of the Gila River Indian Reservation, 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. 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 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withdrawn from this consultation.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

[[Page 44691]]

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.
    During the years 1971-1973, human remains representing a minimum of 
six individuals were removed from sites designated GR 2752, GR 2910, GR 
3053, and AZ U:13:35 ASM, on the Gila River Indian Reservation, Pinal 
County, AZ, by Donald Wood, staff member of the Arizona State Museum. 
The human remains were originally classified as faunal remains. In 
2005, a staff member of the Arizona State Museum examined collections 
of faunal bones from sites on the Gila River Indian Reservation and 
reclassified these six sets of remains as human bone. These are 
fragmentary sets of human remains that were not collected from 
recognized mortuary contexts. No known individuals were identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present. Additional human remains from 
the same survey, representing a minimum of three individuals, were 
reported in a Notice of Inventory Completion published in the Federal 
Register on December 29, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 251, page 83081).
    Based on characteristics of the mortuary program, the human remains 
have been identified as having a high probability of association with 
the archeologically-defined Hohokam tradition, which spans the years 
circa A.D. 500-1350/1400.
    In 1974, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from site AZ U:13:65 ASM on the Gila River Indian 
Reservation, Pinal County, AZ, during archeological investigations 
conducted by the Arizona State Museum under the direction of Gwinn 
Vivian as part of the Queen Creek Floodway project. The human remains 
were originally classified as faunal remains. In 2005, a staff member 
of the Arizona State Museum examined collections of faunal bones from 
sites on the Gila River Indian Reservation and reclassified these 
remains as human bone. These are fragmentary human remains that were 
collected from the surface and not from a recognized mortuary context. 
No known individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    Based on characteristics of the mortuary pattern and the attributes 
of the ceramic style, the human remains have been identified as having 
a high probability of being associated with the Classic Period of the 
Hohokam archeological tradition, which spanned 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 (9-10), the human 
remains described above represent the physical remains of seven 
individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs and Arizona State Museum have also 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 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 human remains 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 human remains 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. 05-15321 Filed 8-2-05; 8:45 am]
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