[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 148 (Thursday, August 3, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51344-51345]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16485]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036306; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Justice, 
Federal Bureau of Investigation, El Paso, TX

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 Justice, Federal 
Bureau of Investigation (FBI El Paso Field Office), 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 any Indian Tribe. The human 
remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Hudspeth 
County, TX.

DATES: Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice may occur on or after September 5, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Special Agent (SA) Jeffrey R. 
Reisinger, FBI El Paso Field Office, 660 S Mesa Hills Drive, Suite 
3000, El Paso, TX 79912, telephone (915) 832-5383 (desk), email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the 
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The 
determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the FBI El 
Paso Field Office. 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 FBI El 
Paso Field Office.

Description

    Human remains representing one individual were removed from 
Hudspeth County, TX. In August of 2007, following a rainstorm, the 
human remains were exposed on private land approximately 12 miles 
northeast of Sierra Blanca. Children who were playing in the area 
discovered the exposed skeletal remains and the Hudspeth County 
Sheriff's Office was contacted. That office contacted the Texas 
Rangers, who initially assessed the scene and then contacted the FBI. 
FBI El Paso Evidence Response Team (ERT) arrived on scene, took 
photographs, and collected the human remains and objects. The human 
remains and funerary objects were placed into the Evidence Control Room 
before being sent to Quantico, Virginia for analysis. The analysis 
determined the human remains to be ``Ancient remains.'' Based upon 
anthropological and archeological information, more likely than not, 
these human remains belong to an individual of Native American descent. 
The human remains and funerary objects have remained in the Evidence 
Control Room of the FBI Field Office in El Paso since being returned 
from Quantico, Virginia. The seven associated funerary objects are 
three pottery sherds and four stone tool fragments.

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: a final judgment 
of the Indian Claims Commission.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, the FBI El Paso Field 
Office has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
     The seven 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 
Apache Tribe of Oklahoma; Comanche Nation, Oklahoma; Mescalero Apache 
Tribe of the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico; Tonkawa Tribe of 
Indians of Oklahoma; Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, 
Waco, & Tawakonie), Oklahoma; and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo.

[[Page 51345]]

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 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 
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 
described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after September 
5, 2023. If competing requests for disposition are received, the FBI El 
Paso Field Office 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. The FBI El Paso Field Office is responsible for 
sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes 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 and 
10.11.

    Dated: July 26, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-16485 Filed 8-2-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P