[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 164 (Friday, August 24, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48676-48677]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-16801]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
National Park Service, Intermountain Region, Denver, 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 (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary 
objects in the possession and control of the U.S. Department of the 
Interior, National Park Service, Intermountain Region, Denver, CO. The 
human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from El 
Morro National Monument, NM and unknown areas of the Southwestern 
United States.
    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 joint responsibility of the 
NAGPRA coordinator, Intermountain Region and the superintendent, El 
Morro National Monument.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects was made by Intermountain Region and El Morro National Monument 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Colorado 
River Indian Tribes of the Colorado River Indian Reservation, Arizona 
and California; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Jicarilla Apache Nation, New 
Mexico; Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico & Utah; Pueblo of Acoma, New 
Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico; Pueblo of 
Santa Ana, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of 
Tesuque, New Mexico; Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute 
Reservation, Colorado; Ute Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain 
Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni 
Reservation, New Mexico.
    Prior to 1935, human remains representing a minimum of three 
individuals were removed from El Morro National Monument in McKinley 
County, NM. The human remains were donated to Western State College of 
Colorado, which returned them to the National Park Service in 1994. 
Osteological analysis in 1994 determined that the human remains are 
Native American. No other information is known about the human remains. 
No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects 
are present.
    In 1985, human remains representing a minimum of three individuals 
were found in the curation facility at the former Southwest Regional 
Office in Santa Fe, NM. No known individuals were identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    In 1994, the human remains underwent osteological analysis and were 
found to be Native American. The curation facility houses collections 
from multiple parks across the Southwestern United States, but due to 
the lack of contextual information it is impossible to determine from 
which park they were originally recovered.
    In 2000, human remains representing a minimum of three individuals 
were confiscated in Virginia as the result of a NAGPRA trafficking 
investigation. At the conclusion of the case, the human remains and 
cultural items were turned over to the National Park Service's 
Northeast Region, which transferred them to the Intermountain Region in 
2006. No known individuals were identified. The 17 associated funerary 
objects are 1 bag containing leather fragments, 1 bag containing hide 
fragments, 1 bird bone fragment, and 14 bags containing textile 
fragments.
    Osteological examination, radiocarbon dating, and analysis of the 
associated funerary objects conducted by professionals at the 
Smithsonian Institution indicate that the human remains and cultural 
items were likely removed from prehistoric and historic Native American 
gravesites in the Southwestern United States. However, the available 
information is insufficient to determine cultural affiliation.
    Officials of the Intermountain Region and El Morro National 
Monument have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the 
human remains described above represent the physical remains of nine 
individuals of Native American ancestry. Officials of the Intermountain 
Region and El Morro National Monument also have determined that, 
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 17 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 Intermountain Region and El Morro 
National Monument have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), 
a relationship of shared group identity cannot reasonably be traced 
between the Native American human remains and associated funerary 
objects and any present-day Indian tribe.
    The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review 
Committee (Review Committee) is responsible for recommending specific 
actions for disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains. In 
March 2007, the Intermountain Region requested that the Review 
Committee recommend repatriation of the nine culturally unidentifiable 
human remains and 17 associated funerary objects to the Pueblo of 
Acoma, New Mexico and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico as 
co-claimants. The human remains and cultural items were likely 
recovered from the geographic proximity of the

[[Page 48677]]

Indian tribes consulted, all of whom support the co-claim. The Review 
Committee considered the proposal at its April 19-20, 2007 meeting and 
recommended disposition of the human remains to the Pueblo of Acoma, 
New Mexico and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico. The 
National Park Service intends to convey the 17 associated funerary 
objects to the tribes pursuant to 16 U.S.C. 18f-2.
    A May 31, 2007 letter from the Designated Federal Official on 
behalf of the chair of the Review Committee to the NAGPRA coordinator, 
Intermountain Region transmitted the Review Committee's recommendation 
that the Intermountain Region effect disposition of the physical 
remains of nine culturally unidentifiable individuals to the two Indian 
tribes listed above contingent on the publication of a Notice of 
Inventory Completion in the Federal Register. This notice fulfills that 
requirement. The letter mistakenly noted that there were ten associated 
funerary objects rather than the seventeen described above.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Dave Ruppert, NAGPRA coordinator, NPS 
Intermountain Region, 12795 W. Alameda Parkway, Denver, CO 80228, 
telephone (303) 969-2879, before September 24, 2007. Disposition of the 
human remains to the Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico and Zuni Tribe of the 
Zuni Reservation, New Mexico may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    Intermountain Region is responsible for notifying the Colorado 
River Indian Tribes of the Colorado River Indian Reservation, Arizona 
and California; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Jicarilla Apache Nation, New 
Mexico; Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico & Utah; Pueblo of Acoma, New 
Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico; Pueblo of 
Santa Ana, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of 
Tesuque, New Mexico; Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute 
Reservation, Colorado; Ute Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain 
Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni 
Reservation, New Mexico that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 7, 2007.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-16801 Filed 8-23-07; 8:45 am]
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