[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 181 (Monday, September 19, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58035-58036]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-23964]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office, Phoenix, AZ and Arizona 
State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office and Arizona 
State Museum have completed an inventory of a human remain, in 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, and have determined 
that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remain and 
present-day Indian Tribes. Representatives of any Indian Tribe that 
believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remain may 
contact the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office. Repatriation of 
the human remain to the Indian Tribes stated below may occur if no 
additional claimants come forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian Tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the human remain should contact the Bureau of 
Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office at the address below by October 19, 
2011.

ADDRESSES: Randy Chandler, Area Manager, Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix 
Area Office, 6150 West Thunderbird Rd., Glendale, AZ 85306-4001.

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 a human remain in the 
control of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 
Phoenix Area Office, Phoenix, AZ, and in the physical custody of the 
Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. The human 
remain was removed from Pinal County, AZ.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative 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. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remain was made by Arizona State

[[Page 58036]]

Museum professional staff on behalf of the Bureau of Reclamation, 
Phoenix Area Office, in consultation with representatives of the Ak-
Chin Indian Community of the Maricopa (Ak-Chin) Indian Reservation, 
Arizona; 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 (hereinafter referred to as ``The Tribes'').

History and Description of the Remains

    Between February and May 1975, a human remain--a mandible 
fragment--representing one individual was removed from a pack rat nest 
located on the talus slope below the mouth of a rock shelter, site AZ 
U: 16:213(ASM), in Pinal County, AZ, during a legally authorized Class 
III (Intensive) cultural resource survey undertaken by the Arizona 
State Museum for the Bureau of Reclamation. The site is located on the 
north side of Gila River, east of Florence, and downstream of the 
``Buttes'' on the Gila River where a proposed dam was to be built 
during the Central Arizona Project. In 2010, Arizona State Museum 
reviewed uncatalogued site survey collections, which revealed the 
presence of this isolated Native American mandible fragment from a 
survey on Reclamation withdrawn lands along the Middle Gila River. 
There have been other Notices of Inventory Completion (NICs) published 
in the Federal Register for the Central Arizona Project (39 FR 8996-
9002, February 27, 2002; 67 FR 45539-45540, July 9, 2002; and 67 FR 
78247-78248, December 23, 2002). The materials reported in the earlier 
NICs were repatriated to the affiliated Tribes in October and November 
of 2002. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary 
objects are present.
    Site AZ U:16:213(ASM) was classified as a secondary habitation 
site, and no diagnostic ceramics were present to place the site in a 
temporal or cultural sequence. Nonetheless, on the basis of 
archeological context, chronometric, architectural, ceramic, and other 
types of artifactual evidence at adjacent sites recorded during the 
survey, AZ U:16:213(ASM) most likely represents a Hohokam occupation of 
the Middle Gila.
    Evidence provided by anthropological, archeological, biological, 
geographical, historical, kinship, linguistics, and oral tradition 
sources was considered in determining the cultural affiliation of the 
human remain. Bureau of Reclamation officials have determined that the 
preponderance of the evidence suggests that the historic O'odham groups 
(The Four Southern Tribes: Ak-Chin Indian Community of the Maricopa 
(Ak-Chin) Indian Reservation, Arizona; Gila River Indian Community of 
the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa 
Indian Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona; and the Tohono 
O'odham Nation of Arizona, including the San Xavier District) have a 
strong cultural affiliation with the prehistoric Hohokam who occupied 
the middle Gila Valley and surrounding areas. Great similarities in 
settlement patterns, economic systems, architecture, and material 
culture point to a close relationship between the Hohokam and the 
O'odham groups. The O'odham were well established along the rivers and 
in the deserts when the Spanish first arrived in northern Sonora and 
southern Arizona.
    One of the two Pima moieties claims descent from the Hohokam, while 
the other moiety is said to have descended from the ``emergers,'' those 
who overthrew the Hohokam leaders. Although the O'odham belong to the 
same linguistic group (Piman) as communities in what is now northern 
Mexico, shared vocabulary and syntax with Yuman language groups along 
the Colorado River suggests a long-term history of interaction that 
stretches back into prehistoric times in what is now southern Arizona.
    Evidence also shows the affiliation of ancestral Zuni and Hopi 
groups with the prehistoric Hohokam. Interaction is indicated by the 
presence of trade items, particularly ceramics. Such interaction 
continued into protohistoric and early historic times. In addition to 
trade, Hopi and Zuni migration traditions indicate that clans 
originating from areas south of the Colorado Plateau joined the plateau 
communities late in prehistoric times. These groups contributed 
ceremonies, societies, and iconography to the plateau groups. Both 
O'odham and Western Pueblo oral traditions indicate that some Hohokam 
groups may have left the Salt-Gila River Basin after disastrous floods 
and social upheaval. These groups traveled north and east, possibly to 
be assimilated by the Hopi and Zuni. These ties are reflected in some 
of the traditional ceremonies maintained as part of the annual 
ceremonial cycle. Their ancestors had trade relationships and other 
likely interactions with the Hohokam, similar to those found between 
groups in the early historic period. Hopi and Zuni oral traditions 
indicate that segments of the prehistoric Hohokam population migrated 
to the areas occupied by the Hopi and Zuni and were assimilated into 
the resident populations. Therefore, the evidence suggests that the 
Hopi and Zuni are also culturally affiliated with the Hohokam.

Determinations Made by the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office

    Officials of the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remain of one individual of 
Native American ancestry.
     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 remain and The Tribes.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any other Indian Tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remain should contact, in 
writing, Randy Chandler, Area Manager, Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix 
Area Office, 6150 West Thunderbird Rd., Glendale, AZ 85306-4001, before 
October 19, 2011. Repatriation of the human remain to The Tribes may 
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Bureau of Reclamation is responsible for notifying The Tribes; 
Chemehuevi Indian Tribe of the Chemehuevi Reservation, California; 
Cocopah Tribe of Arizona; Colorado River Indian Tribes of the Colorado 
River Indian Reservation, Arizona and California; Fort McDowell Yavapai 
Nation, Arizona; Fort Mohave Indian Tribe of Arizona, California & 
Nevada; Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona; Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma 
Indian Reservation, California & Arizona; San Carlos Apache Tribe of 
the San Carlos Reservation, Arizona; Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona; 
White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona; 
Yavapai-Apache Nation of the Camp Verde Indian Reservation, Arizona; 
and Yavapai-Prescott Tribe of the Yavapai Reservation, Arizona, that 
this notice has been published.

    Dated: September 14, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-23964 Filed 9-16-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P