[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 84 (Wednesday, May 3, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20623-20624]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-08859]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-23135; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Museum of Northern 
Arizona, Flagstaff, AZ

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Museum of Northern Arizona, in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has 
determined

[[Page 20624]]

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 Museum of Northern Arizona. 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 Museum of Northern Arizona 
at the address in this notice by June 2, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Elaine Hughes, Museum of Northern Arizona, 3101 North Fort 
Valley Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, telephone (928) 774-5211 x228, 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 under the 
control of the Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, AZ, 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 1978 and 1979, 105 cultural items were removed from the Cashion 
site (NA14690) in Maricopa County, AZ, during authorized archeological 
investigations conducted by the Museum of Arizona on behalf of the 
Arizona Nuclear Power Project, prior to the construction of a 
wastewater conveyance system that was to provide water to cool the Palo 
Verde Nuclear Generating Station. The 105 unassociated funerary objects 
are 14 pottery and ceramic fragments, 30 jewelry items and fragments, 2 
pollen samples, 2 faunal bone fragments, 51 projectile points, and 6 
tools and implements. The cultural items are associated with seven 
features identified by the field archeologists as secondary human 
cremations. No human bone was recovered.
    Based on archeological evidence, geographic location, and object 
classification, these cultural items were made by Native Americans. 
Archeological evidence indicates that the Cashion site (NA14690), 
within the Salt River area of central Arizona, was occupied during the 
period A.D. 700-900 by the Hohokam people, for whom cremation was a 
common mortuary practice. Hopi and Zuni oral traditions also indicate 
that segments of the prehistoric Hohokam population migrated to areas 
occupied by the ancestors of the Hopi and Zuni and were assimilated 
into the resident populations. Archeological, historical, and oral 
tradition evidence indicate that there is a relationship of shared 
group identity between the Hohokam people and the present-day Piman and 
O'odham cultures, represented by 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 Zuni Tribe 
of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.

Determinations Made by the Museum of Northern Arizona

    Officials of the Museum of Northern Arizona have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 105 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; Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona; and Zuni Tribe 
of the Zuni Reservation, 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 claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Elaine Hughes, Museum of Northern Arizona, 
3101 North Fort Valley Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, telephone (928) 774-
5211 x228, email [email protected], by June 2, 2017.
    After that date, if no additional claimants have come forward, 
transfer of control of the unassociated funerary objects to 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 Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico may 
proceed.
    The Museum of Northern Arizona 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; Tohono O'odham 
Nation of Arizona; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: March 22, 2017.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2017-08859 Filed 5-2-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P