[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 168 (Monday, August 31, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52495-52496]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-21488]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-18953; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Center for Archaeological 
Studies, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Center for Archaeological Studies, Texas State University 
(Texas State), has completed an inventory of human remains, in 
consultation with the appropriate Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations, and has determined that there is no cultural affiliation 
between the human remains and any present-day Indian tribes or Native 
Hawaiian organizations. Representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
request transfer of control of these human remains should submit a 
written request to Texas State. If no additional requestors come 
forward, transfer of control of the human remains to the non-Federally 
recognized Indian group stated in this notice may proceed.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian 
organization not identified in this notice that wish to request 
transfer of control of these human remains should submit a written 
request with information in support of the request to Texas State at 
the address in this notice by September 30, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Todd M. Ahlman, Center for Archaeological Studies, Texas 
State University, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, TX 78666, telephone 
(512) 245-2724, 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. 3003, of the completion of an inventory of human remains under 
the control of the Center for Archaeological Studies, Texas State 
University, San Marcos, TX. The human remains were removed from site 
41HY160, San Marcos, Hays 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 Texas State 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Alabama-
Coushatta Tribe of Texas (previously listed as the Alabama-Coushatta 
Tribes of Texas); Delaware Nation, Oklahoma; Kickapoo Tribe of 
Oklahoma; The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma; United Keetoowah Band of 
Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma; and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (previously 
listed as the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas). The following tribes 
were also invited to participate in consultations, but there is no 
record of their having responded: Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of 
Oklahoma;

[[Page 52496]]

Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Apache Tribe of Oklahoma; Caddo Nation 
of Oklahoma; Cherokee Nation; Comanche Nation, Oklahoma; Iowa Tribe of 
Oklahoma; Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico; Kialegee Tribal Town; 
Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas; Mescalero Apache Tribe of the 
Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; Poarch Band of Creeks (previously 
listed as the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama); The Muscogee 
(Creek) Nation; The Osage Nation (previously listed as the Osage 
Tribe); The Quapaw Tribe of Indians; The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; 
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town; Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Tunica-
Biloxi Indian Tribe; and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, 
Keechi, Waco & Tawakonie), Oklahoma (hereafter tribes listed in this 
section are referred to as ``The Consulted and Invited Tribes''). Texas 
State professional staff also consulted with the Miakan-Garza Band of 
the Coahuiltecan people, a non-federally recognized Indian group.

History and Description of the Remains

    In December 2011, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed from site 40HY160 in Hays County, TX, following 
their inadvertent discovery during a construction project on the campus 
grounds of Texas State. A prehistoric date for the site is based on the 
artifacts excavated and removed from the site. At the request of Texas 
State University's Center for Archaeological Studies, osteological 
analysis of the remains was performed by Drs. Kate Spradley and 
Michelle Hamilton of the Department of Anthropology. Additional 
osteological cleaning, sorting, and reconstruction assistance was 
provided by four graduate students (C. Figueroa-Soto, M. McClain, L. 
Springs, and C. Tegtmeyer). The human remains were determined to be 
those of a Native American adult male of prehistoric date. No known 
individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.16, the Secretary of the Interior may make a 
recommendation for a transfer of control of culturally unidentifiable 
human remains. In January 2015, Texas State requested that the 
Secretary, through the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Review Committee, recommend the proposed transfer of 
control of the culturally unidentifiable Native American human remains 
in this notice to the Miakan-Garza Band of the Coahuiltecan people, a 
non-federally recognized Indian group. The Review Committee, acting 
pursuant to its responsibility under 25 U.S.C. 3006(c)(5), considered 
the request at its March 2015 meeting and recommended to the Secretary 
that the proposed transfer of control proceed. A June 10, 2015, letter 
on behalf of the Secretary of Interior from the National Park Service 
Associate Director, Cultural Resources, Partnerships, and Science 
transmitted the Secretary's independent review and concurrence with the 
Review Committee that:
     Texas State consulted with the appropriate Indian tribes 
or Native Hawaiian organizations;
     Texas State determined that a relationship of shared group 
identity cannot be reasonably traced between the human remains and any 
present-day Indian tribe, based on consultation;
     Texas State determined that the human remains did not 
originate from either the tribal land or the aboriginal land of any 
Indian tribe,
     none of the Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations 
requested transfer of control of the human remains;
     none of the Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations 
has identified any individual or Indian tribe affiliated with the human 
remains through lineal descent, culture, or geography; and
     Texas State may proceed with the agreed upon transfer of 
control of the culturally unidentifiable human remains to the Miakan-
Garza Band of the Coahuiltecan people, a non-federally recognized 
Indian group.
    Transfer of control is contingent on the publication of a Notice of 
Inventory Completion in the Federal Register. This notice fulfills that 
requirement.

Determinations Made by the Center for Archaeological Studies, Texas 
State University

    Officials of the Center for Archaeological Studies, Texas State 
University, have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice are Native American based on an osteological analysis 
and prehistoric artifacts not associated with the human remains.
     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), a relationship of shared 
group identity cannot be reasonably traced between the Native American 
human remains and any present-day Indian tribe.
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.16, the disposition of the human 
remains will be to the Miakan-Garza Band of the Coahuiltecan people, a 
non-federally recognized Indian group.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization 
not identified in this notice that wish to request transfer of control 
of these human remains should submit a written request with information 
in support of the request to Todd M. Ahlman, Center for Archaeological 
Studies, Texas State University, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, TX 
78666, telephone (512) 245-2724, email [email protected], by September 
30, 2015. After that date, if no additional requestors have come 
forward, transfer of control of the human remains to the Miakan-Garza 
Band of the Coahuiltecan people, a non-federally recognized Indian 
group, may proceed.
    The Center for Archaeological Studies is responsible for notifying 
The Consulted and Invited Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: July 31, 2015.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2015-21488 Filed 8-28-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P