[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 100 (Wednesday, May 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33640-33641]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11016]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035911; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 
Forest Service, Lincoln National Forest, Alamogordo, NM

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest 
Service, Lincoln National Forest (Lincoln National Forest) has 
completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects 
and has determined that there is no cultural affiliation between the 
human remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The human remains and 
associated funerary objects were removed from Pickett's Cave, Eddy 
County, NM.

DATES: Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice may occur on or after June 23, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Scott Hays-Strom, Lincoln National Forest, 3463 Las Palomas 
Road, Alamogordo, NM 88310, telephone (575) 434-7206, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the 
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of 
Lincoln National Forest. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice. Additional information on the 
determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, 
can be found in the inventory or related records held by Lincoln 
National Forest.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed 
from Lincoln National Forest, Eddie County, NM. These human remains 
were excavated under the direction of archeologist Edwin Nelson Ferdon, 
Jr. during the excavation of a cave by the University of Nebraska State 
Museum (UNSM) Vertebrate Paleontology Division led by C. Bertrand 
Shultz. The human remains were in the physical custody of Museum 
Director C. Bertrand Shultz until his death in 1995. In September of 
1998, they were discovered in the office of the late Thomas Myers, UNSM 
Curator of Anthropology, and were immediately transferred to the UNSM 
NAGPRA Repository. Osteological examination determined that the human 
remains belong to a Native American young adult male over 18 years of 
age. A prehistoric date for these human remains is based on the pottery 
sherds found within the same cultural level in the excavation (Ferdon 
23:1946). The 42 associated funerary objects are 17 woven fiber 
sandals, one basketry fragment, one black projectile point, one 
fragment of charcoal, 11 bags of fiber fragments belonging to woven 
sandals, one boxed lot of charcoal pieces, one boxed lot containing 
partial sandals and sandal fragments, one partial fiber sandal (labeled 
SR-6421), one boxed lot containing fiber fragments and a shell 
fragment, one piece of worked brown chert, one boxed lot of fiber 
sandal fragments, two faunal bone fragments, one piece of wood, one 
shell ornament with drilled holes, and one boxed lot containing two 
pieces of worked stone, faunal bones, a piece of charcoal, and strips 
of bark.

Aboriginal Land

    The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice 
were removed from known geographic locations. These locations are the 
aboriginal lands of one or more Indian Tribes. The following 
information was used to identify the aboriginal land: final judgement 
of the Indian Claims Commission, treaties, Acts of Congress, and 
Executive Orders.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, Lincoln National Forest has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
     The 42 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.
     No relationship of shared group identity can be reasonably 
traced between the human remains and associated funerary objects and 
any Indian Tribe.
     The human remains and associated funerary objects 
described in this notice were removed from the aboriginal land of the 
Comanche Nation, Oklahoma; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Mescalero Apache 
Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; Navajo Nation, Arizona, 
New Mexico, & Utah; and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New 
Mexico.

Requests for Disposition

    Written requests for disposition of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for disposition 
may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes identified in this notice.
    2. Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian 
organization not identified in this notice who shows, by a 
preponderance of the evidence, that the requestor is a lineal 
descendant or a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian 
organization, or who shows that the requestor is an aboriginal land 
Indian Tribe.
    Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects in 
this notice to a requestor may occur on or after June 23, 2023. If 
competing requests for disposition are received, Lincoln

[[Page 33641]]

National Forest must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to 
disposition. Requests for joint disposition of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects are considered a single request and not 
competing requests. Lincoln National Forest is responsible for sending 
a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: May 17, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-11016 Filed 5-23-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P