[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 177 (Tuesday, September 13, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56469-56471]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-23293]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Inventory Completion: The University of Maine, Hudson 
Museum, Orono, ME

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The University of Maine, Hudson Museum has completed an 
inventory of human remains and an associated funerary object, in 
consultation with the appropriate Indian tribes, and has determined 
that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and 
associated funerary object and present-day Indian tribes. 
Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
object may contact The University of Maine, Hudson Museum. Repatriation 
of the human remains and associated funerary object to the Indian 
tribes stated below may occur if no additional claimants come forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the human remains and associated funerary 
object should contact The University of Maine, Hudson Museum at the 
address below by October 13, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Susan M. Smith, Registrar, Hudson Museum, The University of 
Maine, 5746 Collins Center for the Arts, Orono, ME 04469-5746, 
telephone (207) 581-1902.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 an 
associated funerary object in the possession of The University of 
Maine, Hudson Museum, Orono, ME. The human remains and associated 
funerary object were removed from Coolidge, 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 and associated funerary objects. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by The 
University of Maine, Hudson Museum professional staff and a forensic 
anthropologist in consultation with representatives of the Gila River 
Indian Community of the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona (on 
behalf of themselves and 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 the Hopi Tribe of Arizona. The Zuni Tribe of 
the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, was also contacted, but did not 
consult on the human remains described in this notice.

History and description of the remains

    Sometime during 1929 to 1937, human remains representing a minimum 
of one individual were removed from the grounds of the Vah-Ki-Inn, 
Coolidge, Pinal County, AZ. Subsequently, the human remains came into 
the possession of Mr. Walter C. Smith who built and owned the inn from 
1929 to 1940. In 1937, Mr. and Mrs. William C. Wells of Orono, ME, 
acquired the human remains from Mr. Smith. Sometime before 1994, Mr. 
and Mrs. Wells donated the human remains to the museum (HM1291.1). No 
known individual was identified. The one associated funerary object is 
a ceramic burial vessel (HM1291.2).
    The human remains are a cremation. Burial practices, the associated 
funerary object, and geographical location, support a Hohokam cultural 
determination. This burial has been identified as being associated with 
the Hohokam Casa Grande Ruins Complex and is Preclassic (A.D. 800-
1100).
    A relationship of shared group identity can be reasonably traced 
between the Hohokam culture, which dates from about A.D. 300 to A.D. 
1450, 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; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community 
of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona; and Tohono O'odham Nation of 
Arizona. These four Indian tribes are one cultural group known as the 
O'odham (anthropologically known as the Pima and Papago). The Pee Posh 
(anthropologically known as the Maricopa) are a separate and distinct 
culture that is present in two of the four tribes. The four tribes are 
separated by political boundaries designated through the adoption/
assignment of reservations by the Federal Government, and not by any 
cultural differences. The O'odham people commonly refer to ancestors as 
``the Huhugam.'' The term ``Huhugam'' refers to all of the ancestors 
from the first of the O'odham people to walk the earth to those who 
have perished during modern times. The term ``Hohokam'' is an English 
adaptation of the word Huhugam, and has become known in the larger 
society as an archeological culture. The term Huhugam is often mistaken 
for the word Hohokam, although the terms do not have the same meaning 
and are not interchangeable. The four Federally-recognized O'odham 
Indian tribes claim cultural affiliation to the Hohokam archeological 
cultures, as well as to all others present in their aboriginal claims 
area during the prehistory of what is now known as Arizona and Mexico. 
These affiliations include several other archeological cultures, 
including but not limited to: The Archaic, Paleo-Indian, Salado, 
Patayan, and Sinagua. A written report, ``The Four Southern Tribes and 
the Hohokam of the Phoenix Basin,'' given to the Hudson Museum by the 
Gila River Indian Community, provides a preponderance of evidence--
archeological, linguistic, oral tradition, ethnographical, kinship, and 
biological--for a relationship of shared group identity between the 
Hohokam culture and the present-day O'odham.
    Linguistic evidence indicates that all of the O'odham speak 
different dialects of the same Uto-Aztecan language. O'odham 
communities were historically recorded as living in the Gila River area 
by Jesuit missionaries in 1687. In the 1700s, when written records 
about the O'odham began, they occupied at least seven rancherias. At 
the time of European contact, the O'odham, who occupied land previously 
inhabited by the Hohokam, mirrored the Hohokam in many ways. The 
Hohokam were desert agriculturalists who developed an elaborate system 
of irrigation canals to irrigate their crops. At European contact, it 
was documented that the O'odham were also desert agriculturalists who 
utilized irrigation

[[Page 56470]]

canals and rivers. Based on scientific evidence, scholars view the 
complex irrigation systems of the O'odham and the Hohokam as evidence 
for a cultural continuity between the two that involved the ability to 
control mass labor in order to construct and maintain these canals. The 
Hohokam had a distinct settlement pattern that consisted of small 
farmsteads scattered throughout the landscape. The O'odham practiced 
this same type of settlement pattern. There was general architecture 
through the Hohokam Period to the historic O'odham Period that 
exhibited a trend from quadrangular to round structures through time. 
In addition, archeological and historical evidence shows that runoff 
farming was very common throughout the Southwest for over a millennium, 
until the early 20th century (Cordell, 1984). It was practiced by 
farmers of all the Pueblos and their ancestors as well as the Tohono 
O'odham and other tribes, including the Hopi and Zuni. Therefore, a 
relationship of shared group identity can also reasonably be traced 
between the Hohokam, and the Hopi and Zuni tribes.
    According to Jesse Walter Fewkes, American anthropologist and 
archeologist, O'odham oral tradition tells us that some of the people 
occupying the Hohokam area migrated northward and later built pueblos 
in the Little Colorado Valley. The descendants of these people in due 
course joined the Hopi and Zuni people, with whom, according to 
legends, they still live. These migrations occurred in prehistoric 
times, and vague legends still survive among both Zuni and Hopi 
regarding the life of some of their clans in the south. These migration 
legends are supported by archeological evidence.
    According to the Tumacacori National Historical Park, the Hopi 
Tribe of Arizona considers all of Arizona to be within traditional Hopi 
lands, or within those areas where Hopi clans migrated in the past. 
Some of the Hopi accounts promote the viewpoint of those who left for 
the northern pueblos (Courlander 1982, Fewkes 1920, Nequatewa 1936). 
There are very strong parallels between the O'odham and Hopi stories of 
this period in late prehistory, including not just the role of a great 
water serpent and a flood, but also the sacrifice of children in the 
flood, commemorated among the O'odham as the Children's Shrine near 
Santa Rosa. Resolution H-70-94 signed on May 23, 1994, by the Hopi 
Tribal Council declares formal cultural affinity and affiliation with 
the Hohokam and Salado cultural groups. According to, ``Yep Hisat 
Hoopoq'yaqam Yeesiwa (Hopi Ancestors Were Once Here): Hopi Cultural 
Affiliation With the Ancient Hohokam of Southern Arizona,'' a report by 
T. J. Ferguson, Leigh J. Kuwanwisiwma, Micah Loma'omvaya, Patrick 
Lyons, Greg Schachner, and Laurie Webster, the Hopi people trace their 
historical relationship with ancestral Hoopoq'yaqam groups who resided 
in the Hohokam area, using traditional history and geography, kinship, 
archeological materials, and on-going religious and cultural practices. 
This information is embedded in the traditional knowledge, religious 
practices and esoteric rites that the Hopi inherited from their 
ancestors. Corroborating evidence of a historical relationship with the 
Hohokam comes from ethnographic and archeological studies. Ceramic 
iconography, ritual artifacts and textiles constitute distinct patterns 
of material culture manufacture and distribution that link Hohokam and 
Hopi groups. According to oral tradition, Hopi clan migration supports 
a shared group identity with Hohokam and Salado. Modern-day ritual 
pilgrimage practices support that oral tradition. According to the 
notes of archeologist Harold S. Colton, a Hopi shrine is located near 
the mountain peaks in the vicinity of Phoenix. Cremation was practiced 
by at least one clan that migrated from the south to present-day Hopi 
territory.
    Architectural evidence also supports a shared group identity. Hopi 
style kivas have been found near Safford, in the southeast corner of 
Arizona. Similar underground rooms are found among ruins in the 
Southwest, signifying ritual or cultural use by the ancient peoples of 
the region, including the Ancient Pueblo People and the Hohokam. Kivas 
first appeared about A.D. 750; these rooms are generally believed to 
have been used for religious and other communal purposes. Today, the 
Hopi and other descendants still use kivas for ceremonial, religious 
and other special purposes.
    The ``Zuni Policy Statement Regarding the Protection and Treatment 
of Human Remains and Associated Funerary Objects,'' (November 1992), 
which was sent to museums in the 1990s, states that the Zuni people are 
culturally affiliated to earlier groups, including Hohokam and Salado. 
On July 11, 1995, the Zuni Tribe issued a ``Statement of Cultural 
Affiliation With Prehistoric and Historic Cultures.'' In the statement, 
the Zuni Tribe declared that it has a relationship of shared group 
identity with Hohokam and Salado culture based on oral teachings and 
traditions, ethno historic documentation, historic documentation, 
archeological documentation, and other evidence. Zuni oral tradition 
supports a relationship of shared group identity between the Zuni and 
the Hohokam and Salado. The Phoenix Basin is a part of the Zuni 
migration histories. Medicine societies and Kiva groups have migration 
histories that place them in the Phoenix Basin. Archeological evidence 
suggests that the structure of religious organization among the Classic 
Period Hohokam may have been similar to the directional priesthoods of 
the historic O'odham and also of the people of the Zuni Tribe (Teague 
1984b).
    In addition, results of a study comparing more than 60 genetic 
markers show a relatively close relationship between modern O'odham and 
the Zuni Tribe (Cavalli-Sforza 1994; The Four Southern Tribes and the 
Hohokam of the Phoenix Basin).

Determinations Made by The University of Maine, Hudson Museum

    Officials of The University of Maine, Hudson Museum have determined 
that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
above represent the physical remains of one individual of Native 
American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the one object described 
above is 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.
     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 object 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 the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico 
(hereinafter referred to as ``The Tribes'').

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
object should contact Susan M. Smith, Registrar, Hudson Museum, The 
University of Maine, 5746 Collins Center for the Arts, Orono, ME 04469-
5746, telephone (207) 581-1902, before October 13, 2011. Repatriation 
of the human remains and associated funerary object to The Tribes may 
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.

[[Page 56471]]

    The Hudson Museum is responsible for notifying The Tribes that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: September 7, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-23293 Filed 9-12-11; 8:45 am]
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