[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 170 (Tuesday, September 5, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41987-41989]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-18685]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-23729; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, DC, and Arizona State Museum, 
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
and the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, have completed an 
inventory of human remains, in consultation with the appropriate Indian 
tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, and have determined that there 
is a cultural affiliation between the human remains 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 should submit a written request to the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs. If no additional requestors come forward, transfer of 
control of the human remains 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 should submit a 
written request with information in support of the request to the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs at the address in this notice by October 5, 
2017.

ADDRESSES: Anna Pardo, NAGPRA Coordinator, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
12220 Sunrise Valley Drive, Room 6084, Reston, VA 20191, telephone 
(703) 390-6343, 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 U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, Washington, DC, and in the physical custody of the Arizona 
State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (ASM). The human 
remains were removed from a location within the boundaries of the Fort 
Apache Indian Reservation, Navajo County, AZ.

[[Page 41988]]

    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 ASM 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Hopi 
Tribe of Arizona; White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache 
Reservation, Arizona; and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New 
Mexico.

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1978, human remains representing, at minimum, 1 individual were 
removed from site AZ P:14:8(ASM) in Navajo County, AZ. Legally 
authorized excavations were conducted by the University of Arizona 
Archeological Field School under the direction of Michael Graves and 
Michael Faught. No human burials were reported at the time of the 
excavations. Following project completion, the archeological 
collections were brought to ASM. In 2017, ASM staff found fragmentary 
human remains in the repository collections. No known individuals were 
identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
    AZ P:14:8(ASM) is a small village site that included three masonry 
room blocks. The human remains discovered in 2017 were originally found 
in roof fall debris inside one of the rooms. Tree ring dates and 
ceramic typologies suggest that the primary occupation of the site was 
during the late A.D. 1200s. These characteristics are consistent with 
the archeologically-described Upland Mogollon or prehistoric Western 
Pueblo tradition.
    A detailed discussion of the basis for cultural affiliation of 
archeological sites in the region where the above site is located may 
be found in ``Cultural Affiliation Assessment of White Mountain Apache 
Tribal Lands (Fort Apache Indian Reservation),'' by John R. Welch and 
T.J. Ferguson (2005). To summarize, archeologists have used the terms 
Upland Mogollon or prehistoric Western Pueblo to define the 
archeological complex represented by the site described above. Material 
culture characteristics of these traditions include a temporal 
progression from earlier pit houses to later masonry pueblos, villages 
organized in room blocks of contiguous dwellings associated with 
plazas, rectangular kivas, polished and paint-decorated ceramics, 
unpainted corrugated ceramics, inhumation burials, cradleboard cranial 
deformation, grooved stone axes, and bone artifacts. The combination of 
the material culture attributes and a subsistence pattern that included 
hunting and gathering augmented by maize agriculture helps to identify 
an earlier group. Archeologists have also remarked that there are 
strong similarities between this earlier group and present-day tribes 
included in the Western Pueblo ethnographic group, especially the Hopi 
Tribe of Arizona and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New 
Mexico. The similarities in ceramic traditions, burial practices, 
architectural forms, and settlement patterns have led archeologists to 
believe that the prehistoric inhabitants of the Mogollon Rim region 
migrated north and west to the Hopi mesas, and north and east to the 
Zuni River Valley. Certain objects found in Upland Mogollon 
archeological sites have been found to have strong resemblances with 
ritual paraphernalia that are used in continuing religious practices by 
the Hopi and Zuni. Some petroglyphs on the Fort Apache Reservation have 
also persuaded archeologists of continuities between the earlier 
identified group and current-day Western Pueblo people. Biological 
information from AZ P:14:1(ASM), a site located close to AZ 
P:14:8(ASM), supports the view that the prehistoric occupants of the 
Upland Mogollon region had migrated from various locations to the north 
and west of the region.
    Hopi and Zuni oral traditions parallel the archeological evidence 
for migration. Migration figures prominently in Hopi oral tradition, 
which refers to the ancient sites, pottery, stone tools, petroglyphs, 
and other artifacts left behind by the ancestors as ``Hopi 
Footprints.'' This migration history is complex and detailed, and 
includes traditions relating specific clans to the Mogollon region. 
Hopi cultural advisors have also identified medicinal and culinary 
plants at archeological sites in the region. Their knowledge about 
these plants was passed down to them from the ancestors who inhabited 
these ancient sites. Migration is also an important attribute of Zuni 
oral tradition and includes accounts of Zuni ancestors passing through 
the Upland Mogollon region. The ancient villages mark the routes of 
these migrations. Zuni cultural advisors remark that the ancient sites 
were not abandoned. People returned to these places from time to time, 
either to reoccupy them or for religious pilgrimages--a practice that 
has continued to the present day. Archeologists have found ceramic 
evidence at shrines in the Upland Mogollon region that confirms these 
reports. Zuni cultural advisors have names for plants endemic to the 
Mogollon region that do not grow on the Zuni Reservation. They also 
have knowledge about traditional medicinal and ceremonial uses for 
these resources, which has been passed down to them from their 
ancestors. Furthermore, Hopi and Zuni cultural advisors have recognized 
that their ancestors may have been co-resident at some of the sites in 
this region during their ancestral migrations.
    There are differing points of view regarding the possible presence 
of Apache people in the Upland Mogollon region during the time that AZ 
P:14:8(ASM) was occupied. Some Apache traditions describe interactions 
with Ancestral Pueblo people during this time, but according to these 
stories, Puebloan people and Apache people were regarded as having 
separate identities. The White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache 
Reservation, Arizona, does not claim cultural affiliation with the 
human remains and associated funerary objects from this site. As 
reported by Welch and Ferguson (2005), consultations between the Navajo 
Nation, Arizona, New Mexico & Utah; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo 
of Laguna, New Mexico; and White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort 
Apache Reservation, Arizona, have indicated that none of these tribes 
wish to pursue claims of affiliation with sites on White Mountain 
Apache Tribal lands. Finally, the White Mountain Apache Tribe of the 
Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona, supports the repatriation of human 
remains and associated funerary objects from this site and is ready to 
assist the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni 
Reservation, New Mexico, in their reburial.

Determinations Made by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, Washington, DC, and the Arizona State Museum, 
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

    Officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Arizona State Museum 
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.

[[Page 41989]]

     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 Hopi Tribe of Arizona and the 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 
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 Anna Pardo, NAGPRA Coordinator, Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, 12220 Sunrise Valley Drive, Room 6084, Reston, VA 
20191, telephone (703) 390-6343, email [email protected], by October 
5, 2017. After that date, if no additional requestors have come 
forward, transfer of control of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects to the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and the Zuni Tribe of the 
Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, may proceed.
    The Arizona State Museum is responsible for notifying the Hopi 
Tribe of Arizona; White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache 
Reservation, Arizona; and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New 
Mexico, that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 29, 2017.
Sarah Glass,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2017-18685 Filed 9-1-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P