[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 119 (Thursday, June 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40854-40855]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-13298]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036060; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Los Angeles County Museum of 
Natural History, Los Angeles, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and

[[Page 40855]]

Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural 
History (LACMNH), has completed an inventory of human remains and has 
determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human 
remains and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this 
notice. The human remains were removed from Bernalillo County, NM.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after July 24, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Amy E. Gusick, NAGPRA Officer, Los Angeles County Museum of 
Natural History, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, 
telephone (213) 763-3370, 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 the 
Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. 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 the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, seven individuals were 
removed from the Paa-ko Pueblo site in Bernalillo County, NM. On March 
13, 1942, these human remains were recorded in the Accession Records of 
the Laboratory of Anthropology of the Hancock Foundation (a now-
disbanded museum that was once part of the University of Southern 
California). The accession record (number 64) reads, ``Skeletal 
material from Pa-ako, ruin in New Mexico: season--Most are frag.'' The 
human remains, which had been gifted to the University of Southern 
California by the Museum of New Mexico, were recorded with the U.S.C. 
code designations Bq and 60. Bq represents ``Paako'' and 60 represents 
``skeletal--burials.'' On February 1, 1966, the Laboratory of 
Anthropology of the Hancock Foundation loaned items from its 
anthropology collection to LACMNH, and on March 29, 1983, they were 
gifted to LACMNH. LACMNH Catalog Number L.2397.66-27 represents two 
adult females between 20 and 40 years old and LACMNH Catalog Number 
L.2397.66-28 represents one adult of unknown sex, one fetus, one 
newborn, one child one year old, and one child three years old; the 
three-year old had spina bifida. No associated funerary objects are 
present.
    The Paa-ko site is believed to have been occupied from 
approximately A.D. 1300 to 1425 and then again from approximately A.D. 
1525 to 1626 or later. The Paa-ko site is documented through material 
culture and ethnographic accounts to as having originally been 
inhabited by the Tamayame people, and represents an important location 
in the migration history of the modern Tamayame, or people of the 
Pueblo of Santa Ana. Oral history and ethnographic accounts trace this 
migration history through Paa-ko to the modern Pueblo of Santa Ana. 
These histories, as well as archeological evidence suggests a continued 
shared group identity between the Tamayame people and the modern Native 
American inhabitants of the Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico.

Cultural Affiliation

    The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice 
are connected to one or more identifiable earlier groups, tribes, 
peoples, or cultures. There is a relationship of shared group identity 
between the identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures 
and one or more Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. The 
following types of information were used to reasonably trace the 
relationship anthropological, archeological, and oral traditional.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History has 
determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of seven individuals of Native American ancestry.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains described in this notice 
and the Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains in this 
notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in 
ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations 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.
    Repatriation of the human remains in this notice to a requestor may 
occur on or after July 24, 2023. If competing requests for repatriation 
are received, the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History must 
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. 
Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains are considered a 
single request and not competing requests. The Los Angeles County 
Museum of Natural History is responsible for sending a copy of this 
notice to the Indian Tribe 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: June 14, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-13298 Filed 6-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P