[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 38 (Monday, February 27, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11578-11580]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office 
[www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-4510]


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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 
Indian Affairs, Washington, DC, and the Arizona State Museum, University of 
Arizona, Tucson, AZ

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
and the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, have completed an 
inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects, in

[[Page 11579]]

consultation with the appropriate Indian tribes, and have determined that 
there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated 
funerary objects and present-day Indian tribes. Representatives of any Indian 
tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains 
and associated funerary objects may contact the Arizona State Museum, 
University of Arizona. Repatriation of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects 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 remains and associated funerary objects should 
contact the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, at the address below 
by March 28, 2012.

ADDRESSES: John McClelland, NAGPRA Coordinator, P.O. Box 210026, Arizona State 
Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, telephone (520) 626-2950.

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 human remains and associated funerary 
objects under the control of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, Washington, DC, and in the physical custody of the Arizona 
State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (ASM). The human remains and 
associated funerary objects were removed from a location within the boundaries 
of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, Navajo 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 and associated funerary objects. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the ASM 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Hopi Tribe of 
Arizona; White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona; 
and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.

History and Description of the Remains

    In the years 1963 through 1977, human remains representing, at minimum, 
1,148 individuals were removed from the Grasshopper Pueblo, site AZ P:14:1 
(ASM), in Navajo County, AZ, as a result of legally authorized excavations 
conducted by the University of Arizona Archaeological Field School. 
Archaeological collections from the site were brought to the museum at the end 
of each field season. No known individuals were identified. The 1,703 
associated funerary objects are 4 animal bones, 3 animal claws, 7 antler 
artifacts, 1 antler fragment, 9 bone artifacts, 32 bone awls, 3 bone awl 
fragments, 4 bone beads, 2 bone hairpins, 2 bone needles, 1 bone needle 
fragment, 3 bone ornaments, 14 bone rings, 1 bone spatula, 1 bone wand, 556 
ceramic bowls, 39 ceramic bowl fragments, 2 ceramic canteens, 1 ceramic disk, 
1 ceramic drill, 1 ceramic figurine fragment, 179 ceramic jars, 12 ceramic jar 
fragments, 1 ceramic pendant, 8 ceramic pitchers, 1 ceramic pitcher fragment, 
1 ceramic plate, 4 ceramic scoops, 33 ceramic sherds, 3 ceramic sherd 
artifacts, 9 pieces of chipped stone, 1 chipped stone core, 2 pieces of 
chipped stone debris, 44 chipped stone flakes, 1 lot of clay, 1 clay jar, 1 
clay lid fragment, 1 coral fossil, 1 cotton ball, 5 fossils, 1 hammerstone, 1 
handstone, 9 manos, 4 mano fragments, 16 lots of mineral, 2 pieces of mortar, 
12 polishing stones, 28 quartz crystals, 7 shells, 5 shell artifacts, 1 shell 
artifact fragment, 129 shell beads, 11 shell bracelets, 2 shell bracelet 
fragments, 1 shell necklace, 1 shell ornament, 21 shell pendants, 3 shell 
pendant fragments, 4 shell rings, 21 shell tinklers, 1 shell tinkler fragment, 
2 soil impressions, 1 stone, 10 stone artifacts, 1 stone awl, 1 stone axe, 1 
stone ball, 110 stone beads, 1 stone bowl, 1 stone concretion, 1 stone 
cylinder, 1 stone disk, 5 stone figurines, 1 stone handstone, 3 stone knives, 
2 stone pebbles, 7 stone pendants, 209 stone projectile points, 3 stone 
projectile point fragments, 5 stone shaft smoothers, 1 stone shaft 
straightener, 1 stone slab, 1 textile cord, 5 turquoise beads, 42 turquoise 
pendants, 12 turquoise tesserae, and 1 wood mat fragment.
    The Grasshopper Pueblo site is a large village site containing 
approximately 500 rooms in more than a dozen stone room blocks arranged around 
three main plazas. The site has been dated from A.D. 1275-1400, based on tree 
ring dates, architectural forms, building technology and ceramic styles. These 
characteristics, the mortuary pattern and other items of material culture are 
consistent with the archeologically-
described Upland Mogollon or prehistoric Western Pueblo tradition.
    A detailed discussion of the basis for cultural affiliation of 
archeological sites in the region where the above site is located may be found 
in ``Cultural Affiliation Assessment of White Mountain Apache Tribal Lands 
(Fort Apache Indian Reservation),'' by John R. Welch and T.J. Ferguson (2005). 
To summarize, archeologists have used the terms Upland Mogollon or prehistoric 
Western Pueblo to define the archeological complexes represented by the site 
listed above. Material culture characteristics of these traditions include a 
temporal progression from earlier pit houses to later masonry pueblos, 
villages organized in room blocks of contiguous dwellings associated with 
plazas, rectangular kivas, polished and paint-decorated ceramics, unpainted 
corrugated ceramics, inhumation burials, cradleboard cranial deformation, 
grooved stone axes, and bone artifacts. The combination of the material 
culture attributes and a subsistence pattern, which included hunting and 
gathering augmented by maize agriculture, helps to identify an earlier group. 
Archeologists have also remarked that there are strong similarities between 
this earlier group and present-day tribes included in the Western Pueblo 
ethnographic group, especially the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and the Zuni Tribe of 
the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico. The similarities in ceramic traditions, 
burial practices, architectural forms and settlement patterns have led 
archeologists to believe that the prehistoric inhabitants of the Mogollon Rim 
region migrated north and west to the Hopi mesas, and north and east to the 
Zuni River Valley. Certain objects found in Upland Mogollon archeological 
sites have been found to have strong resemblances to ritual paraphernalia that 
are used in continuing religious practices by the Hopi and Zuni. Some 
petroglyphs on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation have also persuaded 
archeologists of continuities between the earlier identified group and 
current-day Western Pueblo people. Biological information from the site of 
Grasshopper Pueblo supports the view that the prehistoric occupants of the 
Upland Mogollon region had migrated from various locations to the north and 
west of the region.
    Hopi and Zuni oral traditions parallel the archeological evidence for 
migration. Migration figures prominently in Hopi oral tradition, which refers 
to the ancient sites, pottery, stone tools, petroglyphs and other artifacts 
left behind by the

[[Page 11580]]

ancestors as ``Hopi Footprints.'' This migration history is complex and 
detailed, and includes traditions relating specific clans to the Mogollon 
region. Hopi cultural advisors have also identified medicinal and culinary 
plants at archeological sites in the region. Their knowledge about these 
plants was passed down to them from the ancestors who inhabited these ancient 
sites. Migration is also an important attribute of Zuni oral tradition, and 
includes accounts of Zuni ancestors passing through the Upland Mogollon 
region. The ancient villages mark the routes of these migrations. Zuni 
cultural advisors remark that the ancient sites were not abandoned. People 
returned to these places from time to time, either to reoccupy them or for the 
purpose of religious pilgrimages--a practice that has continued to the present 
day. Archeologists have found ceramic evidence at shrines in the Upland 
Mogollon region that confirms these reports. Zuni cultural advisors have names 
for plants endemic to the Mogollon region that do not grow on the Zuni 
Reservation. They also have knowledge about traditional medicinal and 
ceremonial uses for these resources, which has been passed down to them from 
their ancestors. Furthermore, Hopi and Zuni cultural advisors have recognized 
that their ancestors may have been co-resident at some of the sites in this 
region during their ancestral migrations.
    There are differing points of view regarding the possible presence of 
Apache people in the Upland Mogollon region during the time that Grasshopper 
Pueblo was occupied. Some Apache traditions describe interactions with 
Ancestral Pueblo people during this time, but according to these stories, 
Puebloan people and Apache people were regarded as having separate identities. 
The White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona, does 
not claim cultural affiliation with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects from this site. As reported by Welch and Ferguson (2005), 
consultations between the White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache 
Reservation, Arizona, and the Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico & Utah; 
Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; and Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico, have indicated 
that none of these tribes wish to pursue claims of affiliation with sites on 
White Mountain Apache Tribal lands. Finally, the White Mountain Apache Tribe 
of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona, supports the repatriation of human 
remains and associated funerary objects from this site and is ready to assist 
the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, 
in the reburial.

Determinations Made by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, Washington, DC, and the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, 
Tucson, AZ

    Officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Arizona State Museum 
have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described in this notice 
represent the physical remains of 1,148 individuals of Native American 
ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 1,703 objects described above 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.
     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 
remains and associated funerary objects and the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and Zuni 
Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary objects 
should contact John McClelland, NAGPRA Coordinator, Arizona State Museum, 
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, telephone (520) 626-2950, before 
March 28, 2012. Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects to the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, 
New Mexico, may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
    The Arizona State Museum is responsible for notifying the Hopi Tribe of 
Arizona; White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona; 
and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: February 22, 2012.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2012-4510 Filed 2-24-12; 8:45 am]
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