[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 244 (Friday, December 18, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 82508-82510]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27874]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0031248; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: History Colorado, Formerly 
Colorado Historical Society, Denver, CO

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: History Colorado, formerly Colorado Historical Society, 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 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 History Colorado. If no additional requestors come forward, 
transfer of control of the human remains to the Indian Tribes or Native 
Hawaiian organizations 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 History Colorado 
at the address in this notice by January 19, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Alisa DiGiacomo, NAGPRA Liaison, History Colorado, 1200

[[Page 82509]]

Broadway, Denver, CO 80203, telephone (303) 866-4531, 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 History Colorado, Denver, CO. One set of human remains 
was recovered from La Plata County, CO.
    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 History 
Colorado professional staff in consultation with representatives of the 
Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming; Cheyenne and 
Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma (previously listed as Cheyenne-Arapaho 
Tribes of Oklahoma); Comanche Nation, Oklahoma; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; 
Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico; Mescalero Apache Tribe of the 
Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico & 
Utah; Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian 
Reservation, Montana; Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico (previously listed as 
Pueblo of San Juan); Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New 
Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; Rosebud 
Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota; Shoshone-
Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation; Southern Ute Indian Tribe 
of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado; Ute Indian Tribe of the 
Uintah & Ouray Reservation, Utah; Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (previously 
listed as Ute Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain Reservation, Colorado, 
New Mexico & Utah); Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (previously listed as Ysleta 
Del Sur Pueblo of Texas); and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, 
New Mexico.
    The Apache Tribe of Oklahoma; Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the Wind 
River Reservation, Wyoming; Fort Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma; Kiowa 
Indian Tribe of Oklahoma; Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of 
Picuris, New Mexico; Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo of San 
Felipe, New Mexico; Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico; Pueblo of Tesuque, 
New Mexico; and the Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico were invited to consult, 
but did not participate.
    Hereafter, all the Indian Tribes listed above are referred to as 
``The Consulted and Invited Tribes.''

History and Description of the Remains

    In October 2019, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were discovered on the side of road CR 210, about one mile 
west of its junction with US 160, within Bodo State Wildlife Area. The 
La Plata County Coroner ruled out a forensic interest and released 
jurisdiction over the human remains--a skull--to the Office of the 
State Archaeologist. Osteological analysis of the human remains (OAHP 
343) conducted by the Department of Anthropology at Fort Lewis College 
determined that the human remains belong to a Native American adult 
male. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary 
objects are present.
    History Colorado, in partnership with the Colorado Commission of 
Indian Affairs, Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute 
Reservation, Colorado, and the Ute Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain 
Reservation, Colorado, New Mexico & Utah, conducted tribal 
consultations among the Tribes with ancestral ties to the State of 
Colorado to develop the process for disposition of culturally 
unidentifiable Native American human remains and associated funerary 
objects originating from inadvertent discoveries on Colorado State and 
private lands. As a result of the consultation, a process was 
developed, Process for Consultation, Transfer, and Reburial of 
Culturally Unidentifiable Native American Human Remains and Associated 
Funerary Objects Originating From Inadvertent Discoveries on Colorado 
State and Private Lands, (2008, unpublished, on file with the Colorado 
Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation). The Tribes consulted 
are those who have expressed their wishes to be notified of discoveries 
in the Basin and Plateau Consultation Region (where this individual 
originated), as established by the Process.
    The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review 
Committee (Review Committee) is responsible for recommending specific 
actions for disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains. On 
November 3-4, 2006, the Process was presented to the Review Committee 
for consideration. A January 8, 2007, letter on behalf of the Review 
Committee from the Designated Federal Officer transmitted the 
provisional authorization to proceed with the Process upon receipt of 
formal responses from the Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico, and the 
Kiowa Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, subject to forthcoming conditions 
imposed by the Secretary of the Interior. On May 15-16, 2008, the 
responses from the Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico, and the Kiowa 
Indian Tribe of Oklahoma were submitted to the Review Committee. On 
September 23, 2008, the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and 
Parks, as the designee for the Secretary of the Interior, transmitted 
the authorization for the disposition of culturally unidentifiable 
human remains according to the Process and NAGPRA, pending publication 
of a Notice of Inventory Completion in the Federal Register. This 
notice fulfills that requirement.
    43 CFR 10.11 was promulgated on March 15, 2010, to provide a 
process for the disposition of culturally unidentifiable Native 
American human remains recovered from tribal or aboriginal lands as 
established by the final judgment of the Indian Claims Commission or 
U.S. Court of Claims, a treaty, Act of Congress, or Executive Order, or 
other authoritative governmental sources. As there is no evidence 
indicating that the human remains reported in this notice originated 
from tribal or aboriginal lands, they are eligible for disposition 
under the Process.

Determinations Made by History Colorado

    Officials of History Colorado have determined that:
     Based on osteological analysis, the human remains are 
Native American.
     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 10.11(c)(1), a ``tribal land'' or 
``aboriginal land'' provenience for the human remains cannot be 
determined.
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.10(g)(2) and 10.16, and the Process, 
the disposition of the human remains may be to the Southern Ute Indian 
Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado, and the Ute Mountain 
Ute Tribe (previously listed as Ute Mountain Tribe of the Ute Mountain 
Reservation,

[[Page 82510]]

Colorado, New Mexico & Utah) (hereafter referred to as ``The Tribes'').

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 Alisa DiGiacomo, NAGPRA Liaison, History 
Colorado, 1200 Broadway, Denver, CO 80203, telephone (303) 866-4531, 
email [email protected], by January 19, 2021. After that 
date, if no additional requestors have come forward, transfer of 
control of the human remains to The Tribes may proceed.
    History Colorado is responsible for notifying The Consulted and 
Invited Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: December 9, 2020.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2020-27874 Filed 12-17-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P