[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 109 (Thursday, June 6, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34130-34131]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-13463]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-13041; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: The Field Museum, 
Chicago, IL

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Field Museum, in consultation with the appropriate Indian 
tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has determined that the 
cultural items listed in this notice meet the definition of 
unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or representatives of 
any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this 
notice that wish to claim these cultural items should submit a written 
request to the Field Museum. If no additional claimants come forward, 
transfer of control of the cultural items to the lineal descendants, 
Indian tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice 
may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to the Field Museum at the address 
in this notice by July 8, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Helen Robbins, Repatriation Director, Field Museum, 1400 
South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, telephone (312) 665-7317, 
email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 
U.S.C. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items in the 
possession of the Field Museum, Chicago, IL, that meet the definition 
of unassociated funerary objects, under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    In 1930, three cultural items were removed from the Queen Creek 
Ruin, also known as Sonoqui Pueblo, Pozos de Sonoqui, or Sun Temple 
Ruin (Sacaton:2:6 (GP)) in Maricopa County, AZ, during legally 
authorized excavations conducted by the Gila Pueblo Archaeological 
Foundation. The Field Museum acquired these items in 1940 as the result 
of an exchange with the Gila Pueblo Archaeological Foundation. The 
three unassociated funerary objects are two ceramic bowls and one 
ceramic scoop. Records indicate that the items were removed from three 
separate grave contexts, but the human remains are not present in Field 
Museum collections.
    Queen Creek Ruin was a large habitation site that included trash 
mounds, burials, pithouses, canals, adobe compounds, and a ballcourt. 
Architectural features, mortuary practices, ceramic types, and other 
items of material culture at this ruin are consistent with the Hohokam 
archaeological tradition and indicate occupation between approximately 
A.D. 950 and 1450. Continuities of mortuary practices, ethnographic 
material, and technology indicate affiliation of Hohokam settlements 
with present-day O'odham (Piman) and Puebloan cultures.
    On July 27, 2012, representatives of the Gila River Indian 
Community of the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona, submitted an 
August 2000 cultural affiliation study that addresses continuities 
between the Hohokam and the O'odham tribes. Furthermore, oral 
traditions that are documented for 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; and the Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona support 
affiliation with Hohokam sites in central Arizona. The aforementioned 
tribes have designated the Gila River Indian Community to take the lead 
on repatriations from the Queen Creek Site.

Determinations Made by the Field Museum

    Officials at the Field Museum have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the three cultural items 
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 and are believed, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary objects 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; and the Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona.

[[Page 34131]]

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Helen Robbins, Repatriation Director, Field 
Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, telephone (312) 
665-7317, email [email protected], by July 8, 2013. After that 
date, if no additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control 
of the unassociated funerary objects to the Gila River Indian Community 
of the Gila River Indian Reservation may proceed.
    The Field Museum is responsible for notifying 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; and the Tohono O'odham Nation of 
Arizona that this notice has been published.

    Dated: May 8, 2013.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2013-13463 Filed 6-5-13; 8:45 am]
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