[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 188 (Friday, September 29, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67354-67356]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21385]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036672; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Arizona State University, School 
of Human Evolution and Social Change, Tempe, AZ

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

[[Page 67355]]


ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Arizona State University, Center for 
Archaeology and Society Repository (acting in place of the Arizona 
State University, School of Human Evolution and Social Change) has 
completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects 
and has determined that there is a 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 Maricopa County, AZ.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after October 30, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Allisen Dahlstedt, Arizona State University, School of Human 
Evolution and Social Change, P.O. Box 872402, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, 
email [email protected] and Christopher Caseldine, Arizona 
State University, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, P.O. Box 
872402, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, telephone (480) 965-6957, 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 
Arizona State University, Center for Archaeology and Society 
Repository. 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 Arizona 
State University, Center for Archaeology and Society Repository.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, three individuals were 
removed from Maricopa County, AZ. These disinterments occurred during 
three separate projects over the course of nine years.
    In 1959, the human remains of one individual were removed from the 
western portion of Las Colinas--then designated The Spear Site--by an 
undergraduate student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology 
at Arizona State University (ASU). No details about the project or its 
curation at ASU are available. The individual is an adult of 
indeterminate sex. The six associated funerary objects are: one lot 
consisting of loose soil with charcoal, one lot consisting of stone 
materials, one obsidian chip with a shaped edge, one ceramic sherd, one 
lot consisting of shell fragments, and one lot consisting of faunal 
skeletal fragments.
    On April 29, 1961, ASU Department of Anthropology faculty Dr. 
Donald Morris was contacted to recover a burial that had been disturbed 
by a contractor doing construction-related excavation for a caisson 
within the Las Colinas site. The human remains of one individual and 
several cultural objects within this mortuary feature were removed and 
brought to ASU. The individual is an adult, likely male. The 23 
associated funerary objects are: one chert biface, one incised bone 
object interpreted by Morris to be parts of a wand, one three-quarter 
grooved axe, one lot consisting of faunal bone, four lots consisting of 
charred fiber/textile material, two lots consisting of charred wood, 
one lot consisting of shell fragments, one lot consisting of chipped 
stones, one reconstructed ceramic bowl, one partially intact ceramic 
jar, one partially reconstructable bowl, and eight lots consisting of 
mixed ceramic sherds.
    In 1967, the human remains of one individual were removed by an 
unknown person. Based on bag labels, the disinterment likely took place 
on March 9, 1967, as part of a salvage project for Arizona Public 
Service (APS) at Las Colinas (no other field documentation records have 
been located). The individual is an adult of indeterminate sex. The 
three associated funerary objects are one lot consisting of unworked 
shell fragments, one lot consisting of mixed ceramic sherds, and one 
lot consisting of lithic debitage.

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, folkloric, geographical, 
kinship, linguistic, oral traditional, and other relevant information.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Arizona State University, Center for Archaeology and 
Society Repository has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
partial physical remains of three individuals of Native American 
ancestry.
     The 32 associated funerary 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects described in this notice and the Ak-Chin Indian Community; Gila 
River Indian Community of the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona; 
Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the 
Salt River Reservation, Arizona; Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona; and 
the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Officials 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 and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after October 30, 2023. 
If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Arizona State 
University, Center for Archaeology and Society Repository must 
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. 
Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing 
requests. The Arizona State University, Center for Archaeology and 
Society Repository 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, 10.10, 
and 10.14.


[[Page 67356]]


    Dated: September 25, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-21385 Filed 9-28-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P