[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 111 (Thursday, June 9, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35244-35246]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-12428]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0034031; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, 
Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of New Mexico, 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 Museum of Indian Arts & 
Culture. 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 Museum of Indian Arts & Culture at the 
address in this notice by July 11, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Julia Clifton, Curator of 
Archaeological Research Collections, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, 
710 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87504, telephone (505) 476-4444, 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 Museum of Indian 
Arts & Culture, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM. The human remains 
and associated funerary objects were removed from the Palace of the 
Governors, Santa Fe, NM.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative

[[Page 35245]]

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 Museum 
of Indian Arts & Culture professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico 
(previously listed as Pueblo of San Juan); Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico; 
Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico; and 
the Santo Domingo Pueblo (previously listed as Kewa Pueblo, New Mexico, 
and as Pueblo of Santo Domingo) (hereafter referred to as ``The 
Tribes'').

History and Description of the Remains

    As described below, in 1962, 1965, and 1974-1975, human remains 
representing, at minimum, 26 individuals were removed from the Palace 
of the Governors in Santa Fe County, NM. The Palace building is owned 
by the Museum of New Mexico (MNM) and is part of the New Mexico History 
Museum. The fragmentary human remains belong to 16 adults, two 
adolescents, two children, and six infants. With two exceptions, the 
human remains of all 26 individuals were recovered from sediments below 
the 20th century floor of the Palace structure.
    In 1962, during the renovation of Room 4 of the Palace of the 
Governors, sub-floor excavations were conducted by Museum staff members 
Bruce Ellis and Stanly Stubbs. In deposits dating to the Pueblo Revolt 
era (A.D. 1680-1693), the fragmentary remains of an infant 7-10 months 
old were recovered.
    In 1965, while the floor of the Southeast room of the Palace was 
being replaced, excavations were conducted by volunteers under the 
direction of MNM staff member Robert Alexander. The fragmentary remains 
belonging to one female adult, one adolescent who was probably male and 
approximately 15-18 years old, and one adult of undetermined sex were 
recovered.
    In late 1974 and early 1975, prior to planned renovations to the 
Palace interior, extensive excavations under the floors of Rooms 5, 7, 
8, and the West Hall were undertaken by Museum personnel and volunteers 
under the direction of Cordelia Snow. The extremely fragmentary remains 
belonging to three adult females, five infants under the age of one 
year, two children between the age of one and three years, two 
adolescents 11-14 years old, and eight adults of undetermined sex were 
recovered.
    In 1974, a foot bone belonging to an adult of undetermined sex and 
a tooth belonging to an adult of undetermined sex were recovered from 
the Patio area of the Palace. No stratigraphic context was recorded for 
these two individuals.
    Immediately following excavation, all the human remains listed in 
this notice were transferred to the Laboratory of Anthropology (now the 
Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology), a sister 
agency of the New Mexico History Museum within the Museum of New 
Mexico. No known individuals were identified. The four associated 
funerary objects are one lot of fabric remnants, one sherd, one 
Olivella shell bead, and one metal straight pin.
    Established in 1610 by Spanish colonists from Mexico as the seat of 
their colonial administration, the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, 
New Mexico is one of the oldest continually occupied buildings in the 
continental United States. Extensively modified over the centuries, 
today it occupies a place on the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe. According 
to oral historical information from the Pueblo of Tesuque, before the 
Spanish arrived in the area, the area of downtown Santa Fe had been 
occupied for centuries by the Pueblo's Tewa ancestors as the village of 
Oga-Pogee (the place of the white shell). During the Pueblo Revolt of 
1680, the Palace served as a fortress for besieged Spanish colonists. 
Historical records indicate that from late 1680, when the colonists 
retreated to the El Paso area, until the return of the Spanish in 
December 1693, the Palace was rebuilt as a Pueblo village and inhabited 
by Northern and Southern Tewa people. This Native occupation is 
supported by archeological and geographic information, and its 
occupation by the ancestors of several contemporary Tribes is 
consistent with historical documents relating to the fate of the 
original Palace of the Governors following the Pueblo Revolt.
    Over the four years following the return of the Spanish, New Mexico 
was wracked by widespread violence, as Diego de Vargas and his army 
attempted to subdue the Pueblos. The refugees from the Pueblo that had 
been established in the Palace of the Governors fled to other villages, 
but many of those villages, in turn, were subsequently abandoned or 
destroyed by Vargas, creating additional waves of refugees. The events 
of this period are complex and painful, and probably because they are 
so traumatic, are not easily accessible through oral history. Most of 
the Tewa villages (the Pueblos of Tesuque, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, 
Santa Clara, Nambe, and Ohkay Owingeh) occupied by the Northern Tewa 
managed to survive this tumultuous period and are still occupied today 
by their descendants. The Southern Tewa villages located southeast of 
Santa Fe were abandoned during this period of violence and political 
unrest. By 1706, the Southern Tewa had left their villages and moved 
north, to Santa Fe and beyond, and into the region occupied by the 
Northern Tewa, as well as west, to the Pueblo of Santo Domingo and the 
Hopi villages.
    Except for the fragmentary human remains of the individuals 
recovered from the Palace Patio, the human remains of all the other 
individuals, which were recovered from sub-floor deposits, date to the 
Native American occupation of the building following the Pueblo Revolt 
in August 1680. While the stratigraphic contexts for the human remains 
of the two individuals recovered from the Palace Patio in 1974 were not 
recorded, no Spanish Colonial or historic Euro-American burials are 
documented in the Palace Courtyard/Patio area north of the current 
Palace structure, within what could have been the limits of the post-
Revolt era Pueblo. Consequently, the single metatarsal element and the 
tooth found in this area are presumed to be Native American and related 
either to the pre-Spanish occupation or to the Revolt era occupation by 
Puebloan people.

Determinations Made by the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of 
New Mexico

    Officials of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of New 
Mexico have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of 26 individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the four 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.

[[Page 35246]]

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 Ms. Julia Clifton, Curator of Archaeological 
Research Collections, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, 710 Camino Lejo, 
Santa Fe, NM 87504, telephone (505) 476-4444, email 
[email protected], by July 11, 2022. 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 Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of New Mexico is 
responsible for notifying The Tribes that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: June 1, 2022.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2022-12428 Filed 6-8-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P