[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 21, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62535-62536]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-24962]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Denver Department 
of Anthropology and Museum of Anthropology, Denver, CO; Correction

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice; correction.

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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 of the University of Denver Department of 
Anthropology and Museum of Anthropology, Denver, 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 cultural 
items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    This notice corrects the cultural affiliation of the human remains 
and associated funerary objects that were described in a Notice of 
Inventory Completion published in the Federal Register of October 26, 
2001 (FR Doc 01-27050, pages 54284-54285). After further consultation 
of museum records, officials of the University of Denver Department of 
Anthropology and Museum of Anthropology have determined that the human 
remains and associated funerary objects referenced in the notice have a 
cultural affiliation that can be narrowed.
    After October 26, 2001, museum officials contracted a research 
archeologist and conducted additional consultations with 
representatives of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Navajo Nation, Arizona, 
New Mexico & Utah; Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico (formerly the Pueblo of 
San Juan); Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of 
Laguna, 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 Taos, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico; Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico; and Zuni 
Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico. The museum also sent reports 
and solicited feedback via telephone and correspondence with

[[Page 62536]]

representatives from the Colorado River Indian Tribes of the Colorado 
River Indian Reservation, Arizona and California; Pueblo of Picuris, 
New Mexico; Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Ildefonso, 
New Mexico; Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico; and Ysleta del Sur 
Pueblo of Texas.
    The October 26, 2001, notice, pursuant to 43 CFR 10.2 (e), 
identified a relationship of shared group identity that could be 
reasonably traced between the Native American human remains and 
associated funerary objects and the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Navajo 
Nation, Arizona, New Mexico & Utah; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo 
of Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, 
New Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico; Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo 
of San Felipe, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico; Ohkay 
Owingeh, New Mexico (formerly the Pueblo of San Juan); Pueblo of 
Sandia, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa 
Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, 
New Mexico; Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico; Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico; 
Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, 
New Mexico. After further consideration of the evidence, museum 
officials have determined that the evidence and research at the Pettit 
Site point to a cultural affiliation that is more specific to the Zuni 
Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
    In the Federal Register of October 26, 2001, paragraph numbers 5-8 
are corrected by substituting the following paragraphs:
    The Pettit Site, 29VA1 (LA 59484), is in Togeye Canyon, which opens 
onto the El Morro Valley just a few kilometers southeast of Ramah, NM, 
near the Zuni Reservation. The Pueblo consists of at least 154 rooms 
(including the presence of kivas and community kivas) and has been 
dated to A.D. 1190-1250. The Pettit Site is generally considered to be 
from the PIII period site (circa A.D. 1150-1350), also known in some 
chronologies as the Reorganization period. Both terms refer to a time 
period just prior to the large population aggregations of the PIV and 
Aggregation periods on the Colorado Plateau.
    The Pettit Site reflects the social tension and struggle documented 
for Pueblo III society in Pueblo ethnography and historiography. 
Researchers believe that hierarchies, such as are evident at the Pettit 
Site, led to subsequent changes in the Zuni area, specifically, 
population aggregation at large and planned pueblos after A.D. 1275 
(Dr. Keith Kintigh and Dr. Dean Saitta).
    The Pettit Site likely played a key role in the economic and 
ideological development of ancestral Zuni society. First, the site 
occupies a prominent landform in the canyon. It is also noted that 
petroglyphs of stick-figure humans with arms pointing downward are 
found on the top of Pettit Mesa. Turquoise, a presumed ritual 
commodity, is found in rooms surrounding a kiva at the extreme west end 
of the mesa top ruin. The presence of large community kivas at the 
Pettit Site suggests architectural continuity between Chacoan and 
Reorganization period material landscapes in the northern Southwest, as 
noted in several places in southwestern Colorado and the Zuni area. Dr. 
Saitta further suggests that ideological continuity is found in the D-
shaped kivas at the Pettit Site, coupled with its location on a 
prominent landform, which is a context identical to that of many early 
Chacoan great houses in the Zuni area.
    Based on the preponderance of the evidence, including archeology, 
architecture, oral traditions, material culture, and expert opinion, 
officials of the University of Denver Department of Anthropology and 
Museum of Anthropology reasonably believe the human remains from the 
Pettit Site are Native American and are ancestral to the Zuni. This 
conclusion is supported by tribal consultation, who largely supported a 
Zuni affiliation, and by Drs. Saitta and Kintigh. The Pueblo of Acoma 
NAGPRA Committee demonstrated cultural affiliation to the El Morro 
Canyon area, especially sacred trails and pilgrimage areas. This oral 
testimony was supported by Dr. Kintigh, who recognized El Morro Valley 
as a ``place where Acoma and Zuni interests overlap.'' However, the 
Pueblo of Acoma NAGPRA Committee supports a Zuni tribal affiliation for 
the Petitt archeological site. Descendants of the Zuni are members of 
the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
    Officials of the University of Denver Department of Anthropology 
and Museum of Anthropology have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 
3001 (9-10), the human remains described in the October 26, 2001 notice 
represent the physical remains of a minimum of eight individuals of 
Native American ancestry. Officials of the University of Denver 
Department of Anthropology and Museum of Anthropology also have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 178 objects 
described in the October 26, 2001 notice 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 Denver Department of Anthropology and Museum of 
Anthropology have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), by a 
preponderance of the evidence, a relationship of shared group identity 
can be reasonably traced between the Native American human remains and 
associated funerary objects in the October 26, 2001 notice and the 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 and associated funerary 
objects should contact Dr. Christina Kreps, University of Denver Museum 
of Anthropology, Sturm 146, Denver, CO 80208, telephone (303) 871-2688, 
before November 20, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects to the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, 
New Mexico may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
    The University of Denver Department of Anthropology and Museum of 
Anthropology is responsible for notifying the Colorado River Indian 
Tribes of the Colorado River Indian Reservation, Arizona and 
California; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico & 
Utah; Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico (formerly the Pueblo of San Juan); 
Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of 
Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New 
Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico; Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico; Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Santo Domingo, New Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; Pueblo 
of Tesuque, New Mexico; Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico; Ysleta Del Sur 
Pueblo of Texas; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: October 6, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-24962 Filed 10-20-08; 8:45 am]
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