[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 36 (Friday, February 24, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11645-11647]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-03622]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-22599; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology, Andover, MA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology has completed an 
inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects, in 
consultation with the appropriate Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations, and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation 
between the human remains and associated funerary objects and present-
day Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. Lineal descendants 
or 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 and associated funerary objects should submit a 
written request to the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology. If no 
additional requestors come forward, transfer of control of the human 
remains and associated funerary objects 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 
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology 
at the address in this notice by March 27, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Ryan Wheeler, Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, 
Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover, MA 01810, (978) 749-4490, 
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 and 
associated funerary objects under the control of the Robert S. Peabody 
Museum of Archaeology, Phillips Academy. The human remains and 
associated funerary objects were removed from Pecos Pueblo, San Miguel 
County, NM.
    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 Robert 
S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology professional staff in consultation 
with representatives of the Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico.

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1915, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual 
were removed from a burial at Pecos Pueblo in San Miguel County, NM 
during excavations conducted by Alfred Vincent Kidder under the 
auspices of the Phillips Academy Department of Archaeology (now the 
Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology). The individual is a fetus or 
infant wrapped in cloth. No known individuals were identified. The two 
associated funerary objects are the cotton textile wrapping and knit 
cordage with tassels, including three copper sequins and other small 
metal wires on one tassel. A conservation report on file indicates that 
the cloth is a commercial cotton textile that looks like crepe. The 
accession and

[[Page 11646]]

catalog number for this group is 100633/69667; alternate numbers 16512 
(the burial) and 3641 (associated knit cordage with tassels, including 
copper sequins) are associated with this individual as well.
    Additional information on file indicates that this burial was 
situated within the ruins of the Spanish church at the Pecos Pueblo 
site. Archeologist Jesse L. Nusbaum conducted repairs and stabilization 
of the mission church ruins at Pecos in 1915. It is possible that this 
burial was recovered during that time. Kidder (see Pecos, New Mexico: 
Archaeological Notes 1958:282, 304-305) reports that a great many 
burials were present under the nave of the church, but that local 
feelings prevented extensive excavations until 1925, when 56 
individuals were removed. The fourth church constructed at Pecos Pueblo 
was in use throughout the eighteenth century and until 1829, when 
Catholic worship moved to the nearby village of San Miguel del Vado. 
The burial likely dates to this time period.
    In 1916, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual 
were removed from a burial at Pecos Pueblo in San Miguel County, NM, 
during excavations conducted by Alfred Vincent Kidder under the 
auspices of the Phillips Academy Department of Archaeology (now the 
Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology). The human remains are 
represented by hair. No known individuals were identified. The one 
associated funerary object is leather wrapping, though general 
deterioration makes it impossible to distinguish between the hair and 
any leather wrapping that is still present. The accession ledgers 
indicate that the hair and wrapping were associated with Skeleton 471. 
The accession and catalog number for this group is 100633/67654; 
alternate catalog number 12378 is associated with this individual as 
well.
    Copies of burial cards from the excavation describe the mode of 
burial as flexed, with the individual on his left side and his head to 
the north. A bone awl and two bone beads (not addressed in this Notice) 
were included with the burial, and fragments of at least two decayed 
corn cobs were noted in the grave. Mich[egrave]le Morgan's 2010 edited 
volume Pecos Pueblo Revisited: The Biological and Social Context 
describes this individual as an adult male, 15 to 17 years old at age 
of death (page 180). The catalog number associated with the human 
remains is 59873. The skeletal remains and associated funerary objects 
(awl and bone beads) were addressed in the notices previously published 
by the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and the Peabody Museum 
of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, and were repatriated 
to the Pueblo of Jemez in May 1999. Provenience information is given as 
1000-E-150, depth from surface 48 inches, 14 inches above red clay. 
Catalog data indicates that this individual is associated with Kidder's 
Glaze 5 pottery, circa AD 1515 to 1700.
    The majority of human remains, associated funerary objects, and 
unassociated funerary objects excavated by Alfred V. Kidder from Pecos 
Pueblo and allied sites between 1915 and 1929 were addressed in Notices 
of Inventory Completion, Corrections, and Notices of Intent to 
Repatriate Cultural Items published in the Federal Register (63 FR 
54729-54730, October 13, 1998; 64 FR 18447, April 14, 1999; and 67 FR 
36646, May 24, 2002) by the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and 
the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University (a 
separate institution with no formal connection to the Robert S. Peabody 
Museum of Archaeology). The fetus or infant burial (assigned accession 
and catalog number 100633/69667) was not addressed in earlier notices 
and was not repatriated. Associated shell and lignite pendants 
associated with the fetus or infant burial, however, were addressed in 
earlier notices and repatriated to the Pueblo of Jemez in May 1999. The 
excavators seem to have handled the hair and wrapping (assigned 
accession and catalog number 100633/67654) separately from the 
associated skeletal remains; the skeletal remains and associated 
funerary objects (awl and bone beads) were addressed in earlier notices 
and repatriated to the Pueblo of Jemez. The fetus or infant and the 
hair and wrappings have remained on loan to the Pecos National 
Historical Park in New Mexico along with other Pecos Pueblo collections 
held by the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology.
    The chronology developed for Pecos Pueblo, based on ceramic types, 
indicates the site was occupied from ca. A.D. 1300 to 1700. Historic 
records document occupation at the site until 1838, when the last 
inhabitants left the Pueblo and went to the Pueblo of Jemez. In 1936, 
an Act of Congress recognized the Pueblo of Jemez as a 
``consolidation'' and ``merger'' of the Pueblo of Pecos and the Pueblo 
of Jemez; this Act further recognized that all property, rights, 
titles, interests, and claims of both pueblos were consolidated under 
the Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico.
    Further evidence supporting a shared group identity between the 
Pecos and Jemez pueblos emerges in numerous aspects of present-day 
Jemez life. The 1992-1993 Pecos Ethnographic Project (unrelated to 
NAGPRA) states: ``[T]he cultural evidence of Pecos living traditions 
are (1) the official tribal government position of a Second Lieutenant/
Pecos Governor; (2) the possession of the Pecos Pueblo cane of office; 
(3) the statue and annual feast day of Porcingula (Nuestra Senora de 
los Angeles) on August 2; (4) the Eagle Watchers' Society; (5) the 
migration of Pecos people in the early nineteenth century; (6) the 
knowledge of the Pecos language by a few select elders'' (see ``An 
Ethnographic Overview of Pecos National Historical Park'' by Frances 
Levine, Marilyn Norcini, and Morris Foster 1994:2-3).

Determinations Made by the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology

    Officials of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of two individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the three objects 
described in this 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.
     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 objects and the Pueblo 
of Jemez, New Mexico.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or 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 and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to Ryan Wheeler, Robert S. Peabody Museum of 
Archaeology, Phillips Academy, 180 Main Street, Andover, MA 01810, 
(978) 749-4490, email [email protected] by March 27, 2017. After 
that date, if no additional requestors have come forward, transfer of 
control of the human remains and associated funerary objects to the 
Pueblo of Jemez may proceed.
    The Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology is responsible for 
notifying the Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico that this notice has been 
published.


[[Page 11647]]


    Dated: December 19, 2016.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2017-03622 Filed 2-23-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P