[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 75 (Thursday, April 17, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20948-20949]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-8307]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 
Forest Service, Cibola National Forest, Albuquerque, NM

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 
Agriculture, Forest Service, Cibola National Forest, Albuquerque, NM. 
The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from 
Socorro County, NM.
    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 Cibola 
National Forest professional staff in consultation with the Pueblo of 
Ysleta del Sur of Texas.
    In 1987, human remains representing a minimum of one individual 
were removed from AR 03-03-03-334 in Socorro County, NM, by Forest 
Service personnel following the report of the presence of a human skull 
on the surface of the site from the Socorro County Sheriff's 
Department. The human remains have been curated in a secure storage 
facility at the Forest Supervisor's Office of the Cibola National 
Forest and were discovered during a recent review by Forest Service 
personnel of the contents of boxes in that facility. No known 
individual was identified. The 15 associated funerary objects are 
pottery sherds, charcoal and chipped stone.
    Archeological evidence of both material culture and settlement 
patterns indicate that site AR 03-03-03-334 is a small pre-historic 
Puebloan habitation site that was occupied intermittently between A.D. 
900 to A.D. 1250/1300 (Pueblo II/Pueblo III). The site is ancestral to 
the nearby large, late prehistoric Puebloan site at Gallinas Springs 
(occupied from the 14th to 16th century). The Gallinas Springs site was

[[Page 20949]]

a part of the Piro Province in early contact era New Mexico (16th 
century). Archeological and historical evidence link the inhabitants of 
the Piro Province to the present-day inhabitants of the Pueblo of 
Ysleta del Sur of Texas. Based on material culture, site organization 
and architecture, site AR 03-03-03-334 has been identified as a small, 
prehistoric Puebloan habitation site that was occupied between A.D. 900 
and A.D. 1250/1300, in the Piro Province of central New Mexico. The 
present-day descendants of the Piro Province populations are the Pueblo 
of Ysleta del Sur of Texas. Oral traditions provided by representatives 
of the Pueblo of Ysleta del Sur of Texas support cultural affiliation.
    Officials of the Cibola National Forest 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 Cibola National Forest also have determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 15 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 Cibola National Forest 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 Pueblo of Ysleta del Sur of Texas.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and/or associated 
funerary objects should contact Dr. Frank E. Wozniak, NAGPRA 
Coordinator, Southwestern Region, USDA Forest Service, 333 Broadway 
Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, NM 87102, telephone (505) 842-3238, before 
May 19, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects to the Pueblo of Ysleta del Sur of Texas may proceed after that 
date if no additional claimants come forward.
    Cibola National Forest is responsible for notifying the Pueblo of 
Ysleta del Sur of Texas that this notice has been published.

    Dated: March 18, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-8307 Filed 4-17-08; 8:45 am]
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