[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 69 (Wednesday, April 10, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21399-21400]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-08370]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-12465; PCU00RP14.R50000-PPWOCRADN0]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Center for Archaeological 
Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio, TX

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Center for Archaeological Research at the University of 
Texas at San Antonio has completed an inventory of human remains, in 
consultation with the appropriate Indian tribe, and has determined that 
there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and a 
present-day Indian tribe. Representatives of any Indian tribe that 
believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains may 
contact the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of 
Texas at San Antonio. Repatriation of the human remains to the Indian 
tribe stated below may occur

[[Page 21400]]

if no additional claimants come forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the human remains should contact the Center 
for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio 
at the address below by May 10, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Cynthia Munoz, Center for Archaeological Research, 1 UTSA 
Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, telephone (210) 458-4394.

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 in the 
possession of the Center for Archaeological Research at the University 
of Texas at San Antonio, TX. The human remains were removed from site 
41ZP144 in San Ygnacio, Zapata County, TX.
    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.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Center 
for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico.

History and Description of the Remains

    In December 2012, as a result of a court order, human remains 
representing, at minimum, one individual were removed from site 41ZP144 
in Zapata County, TX. The partial remains were recovered from a single 
grave in a prehistoric site in San Ygnacio. The burial was located 
under a paved street on a high terrace, 55 meters east of the Rio 
Grande River. In late 1991, the San Ygnacio Municipal Utility District 
was engaged in trenching for a wastewater pipeline installation. During 
the course of this work, the human remains were accidentally unearthed 
under caliche road material. Portions of the remains, consisting of the 
skull, vertebrae, rib cage, and left arm, were damaged by excavation 
machinery. The trenching was monitored by Archaeology Consultants Inc. 
of George West Texas. Work was stopped in the area of the find and the 
Zapata County Sheriff's office, the Texas Antiquities Committee, and 
the Office of the State Archeologist were contacted. The agencies 
agreed that the burial should only be exposed to the extent needed to 
determine its identity. The burial was determined to be Native American 
based on mussel shells and lithic debitage encountered in the burial 
fill. A radiocarbon assay of a bone sample dated the remains to AD 
1400. The remains were reburied and a paved road was constructed over 
the burial. The 1991 work is reported in an archeological report 
titled: Monitoring for Cultural Resources in the San Ygnacio Wastewater 
Improvement Project, Zapata County, Texas, by James E. Warren.
    In 2012, a Petition for Removal of Remains was filed by Zapata 
County. The petition was heard by the 49th Judicial Court of Webb-
Zapata County and a court order was issued to allow for the removal of 
the human remains. The County of Zapata contracted with the Center for 
Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio to 
exhume the burial. The partial remains of one adult individual were 
recovered. The remains are represented primarily by fragmented elements 
of the cranial vault, the right arm, the sacrum, the pelvis, and both 
legs. The sex of this individual is female based on traits associated 
with the pelvis. A specific age range determination was not possible; 
however, morphologic traits indicate that these remains are those of an 
adult who, most likely, was 20-35 years old at the time of death. No 
known individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    The context and date of the burial (AD 1400) demonstrate the 
remains are of Native American ancestry. The femora are platymeric, a 
trait associated with Native Americans. Given the absence of associated 
artifacts, it is not possible to ascribe tribal affiliation, though the 
burial location is within the region of South Texas first inhabited by 
the Coahuiltecans (not a Federally-recognized tribe) and later by the 
Apaches. Apache tribes entered Texas relatively late in time, appearing 
in the Panhandle region in the 1500s, and in south Texas in the 1700s. 
This site is located within the land claim areas of the Mescalero 
Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico.

Determinations Made by the Center for Archaeological Research at the 
University of Texas at San Antonio

    Officials of the Center for Archaeological Research at the 
University of Texas at San Antonio have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of one individual of 
Native American ancestry.
     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 the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero 
Reservation, New Mexico.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Cynthia 
Munoz, Center for Archaeological Research, 1 UTSA Circle, San Antonio, 
Texas, 78249, telephone (210) 458-4394, by May 10, 2013. Repatriation 
of the human remains to the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero 
Reservation, New Mexico may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    The Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas 
at San Antonio is responsible for notifying the Mescalero Apache Tribe 
of the Mescalero Reservation New Mexico that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: February 28, 2013.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2013-08370 Filed 4-9-13; 8:45 am]
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