[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 126 (Monday, July 2, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36030-36031]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-12711]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Colorado Museum, 
Boulder, CO

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

[[Page 36031]]

(NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the completion of an inventory of human 
remains in the possession of the University of Colorado Museum, 
Boulder, CO. The human remains were removed from Montezuma County, CO.
    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 University 
of Colorado Museum professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute 
Reservation, Colorado; Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray 
Reservation, Utah; and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of the Ute Mountain 
Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah.
    In 1954, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were excavated by Hod Stevenson on his property at the edge of Yellow 
Jacket Canyon, Montezuma County, CO. In 1959, Mr. Stevenson donated the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to the museum. No known 
individual was identified. The seven associated funerary objects are 
two plain-weave, diyugi-style Navajo blankets; one coil of braided 
rawhide; one small piece of twined hair; one basket in the shape of a 
dipper; one lot of juniper bark; and one lot of charcoal. A piece of 
rolled leather was not collected when the burial was excavated.
    The human remains were found in a flexed, seated position facing 
east and wrapped in two plain-weave, diyugi-style Navajo blankets in an 
east-facing rock shelter, and appear to have been placed in a shallow 
pit. The burial had been covered with juniper bark and the pit had been 
filled with sandy sediment. In 1959, University of Colorado Museum 
curator, Joe Ben Wheat, visited the site and found a small charcoal 
pictograph of a long-legged horse and rider at the back of the rock 
shelter from which the burial had been removed. Based on the burial 
context, the human remains are Native American.
    The Indian Land Areas Judicially Established 1978 Map indicates the 
claim to land in southwestern Colorado is based upon historic use by 
the Ute and Navajo tribes. The style of the drawing found in the rock 
shelter is similar to historic Ute pictographs (Legacy on Stone, Sally 
J. Cole, 1990). An analysis of the blanket fragments places their 
manufacture at approximately A.D. 1800. Navajo diyugi-style blankets 
were commonly traded to northern allies in Colorado, such as the Ute, 
in the late 18th century. In the last 250 years, the presence of the 
Ute tribes in the area of western Colorado has been historically 
documented by both Spanish and U.S. records. The present northern 
boundary of the Ute Mountain Reservation is only 12 miles to the south 
of the burial site. In consultations, representatives of the Southern 
Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado and Ute 
Mountain Ute Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New 
Mexico & Utah provided evidence in the form of histories and oral 
traditions that place their tribes in a very large area that 
encompasses the location of the burial. Representatives from both 
Indian tribes identified details about the burial as possibly Ute.
    At the estimated time of the burial, historical accounts located 
the Ute bands whose descendants are now members of the Southern Ute 
Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado and Ute Mountain 
Ute Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah 
in an area stretching from southwestern to south central Colorado to 
northwestern New Mexico. Historical accounts placed the other Ute bands 
whose descendants are members of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & 
Ouray Reservation, Utah in an area between the Gunnison River in 
Colorado and the Uintah Basin in Utah in A.D. 1800. Officials of the 
University of Colorado Museum reasonably believe the human remains are 
Ute based on the preponderance of the evidence including geographical, 
archeological, historical, oral-tradition, and expert opinion. 
Descendants of the Ute are members of the Southern Ute Reservation, 
Colorado; Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation, Utah; and 
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New 
Mexico & Utah
    Officials of the University of Colorado Museum 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 University of Colorado Museum also 
have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the seven 
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 University 
of Colorado 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 Native American human remains and 
associated funerary objects and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the 
Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado; Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & 
Ouray Reservation, Utah; and Ute Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain 
Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Steve Lekson, Curator of Anthropology, 
University of Colorado Museum, Henderson Building, Campus Box 218, 
Boulder, CO 80309-0218, telephone (303) 492-6671, before August 1, 
2007. Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, 
Colorado; Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation, Utah; and 
Ute Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New 
Mexico & Utah may proceed after that date if no additional claimants 
come forward.
    University of Colorado Museum is responsible for notifying the 
Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado; 
Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation, Utah; and Ute 
Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & 
Utah that this notice has been published.

    Dated: June 11, 2007
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-12711 Filed 6-29-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S