[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 201 (Wednesday, October 17, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52538-52539]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-22600]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA--NPS0026495; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Arizona State Museum, University 
of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, 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 Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona. 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 Arizona State Museum, University of 
Arizona at the address in this notice by November 16, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Claire S. Barker, Repatriation Coordinator, P.O. Box 210026, 
Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, 
telephone (520) 626-0320, 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 Arizona State 
Museum (ASM), University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. The human remains and 
associated funerary objects were removed from Pima County, AZ.
    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 ASM 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Ak-Chin 
Indian Community (previously listed as 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 the Zuni 
Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, hereafter referred to as 
``The Tribes.''

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1953, human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals 
were removed from an unrecorded site, designated AZ BB:14:--Rincon in 
Pima County, AZ, by Ray Robinson, a private citizen. This site is 
located in a cave in the Rincon Mountains in the eastern Tucson Basin. 
This collection was received by ASM in April 2017. No known individuals 
were identified. The 49 associated funerary objects are: Four lots of 
animal bone, two antler fragments, one lot of beads, one bone awl, two 
lots of botanical material, three lots of ceramic sherds, seven lots of 
chipped stone, one chipped stone projectile point preform, two lots of 
cordage, one digging stick, one fire drill base, one fossilized animal 
bone, one lot of human hair and textiles, one human hair bundle, one 
lithic core, one lot of matting fragments, six sandals, one lot of 
sandal fragments, one shell pendant, one lot of soil and plant 
material, two lots of stone, one lot of tabular knife fragments, three 
lots of textiles, one

[[Page 52539]]

wooden staff, and three lots of wooden sticks. Based on the artifacts 
associated with these remains and the geographic location of discovery, 
these human remains likely date to A.D. 500-1450, which encompasses the 
Hohokam cultural sequence.
    Archeologists describe the earliest settlements in Southern Arizona 
as belonging to the Late Archaic/Early Agricultural horizon. Recent 
archeological investigations have added support to the hypothesis that 
the Hohokam cultural tradition arose from the earlier horizon, based on 
continuities in settlement pattern, architectural technologies, 
irrigation technologies, subsistence patterns, and material culture. 
Archeologists have had difficulty dating the beginning of the Hohokam 
period because the appearance of its distinctive cultural traits, 
including ceramic technologies and mortuary patterns, was a gradual 
process spanning several hundred years. This observation adds further 
support to the hypothesis that the Hohokam tradition evolved in place 
from earlier Late Archaic traditions. Linguistic evidence furthermore 
suggests that the Hohokam tradition was multiethnic in nature. Cultural 
continuity between these prehistoric occupants of Southern Arizona and 
present-day O'odham peoples is supported by continuities in settlement 
pattern, architectural technologies, basketry, textiles, ceramic 
technology, and ritual practices.
    Archeologists have also recognized the presence of people 
associated with the Mogollon tradition in southeastern Arizona. It is 
thought that their presence represents a migration of people from the 
mountainous region to the north, where the Mogollon archeological 
culture was originally defined. Material culture characteristics of 
Mogollon 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, painted and unpainted corrugated 
ceramics, red and brown ceramics, inhumation burials, cradleboard 
cranial deformation, grooved stone axes, and bone artifacts. In 
southeastern Arizona, there is evidence for both Hohokam and Mogollon 
traditions, but it is unclear whether this represents separate 
occupations of different people who interacted and exchanged material 
culture, or cohabitation and a blending of identities.
    Oral traditions that are documented for the Ak-Chin Indian 
Community (previously listed as the Ak Chin Indian Community of the 
Maricopa (Ak Chin) Indian Reservation, Arizona); Gila River Indian 
Community of the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona; Salt River 
Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona; 
and the Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona support cultural affiliation 
with Late Archaic/Early Agricultural period and Hohokam sites in 
southern Arizona.
    Oral traditions that are documented for the Hopi Tribe also support 
cultural affiliation with Late Archaic/Early Agricultural period and 
Hohokam sites in the region. Several Hopi clans and religious societies 
are derived from ancestors who migrated from the south and likely 
identified with the Hohokam tradition. Oral traditions and 
archeological evidence also support affiliation of Hopi clans with the 
Mogollon archeological sites.
    Oral traditions of medicine societies and kiva groups of the Zuni 
Tribe recount migration from distant portions of the Southwest to 
present day Zuni, and support affiliation with Mogollon, Hohokam, and 
Late Archaic traditions. Historical linguistic analysis also suggests 
interaction between ancestral Zuni and Uto-Aztecan speakers during the 
late Hohokam period.

Determinations Made by the Arizona State Museum

    Officials of 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 two individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 49 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 Tribes.

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 Claire S. Barker, Repatriation Coordinator, 
P.O. Box 210026, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, 
AZ 85721, telephone (520) 626-0320, email [email protected], 
by November 16, 2018. After that date, if no additional requestors have 
come forward, transfer of control of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects to The Tribes may proceed.
    The Arizona State Museum is responsible for notifying The Tribes 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 14, 2018.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2018-22600 Filed 10-16-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P