[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 38 (Monday, February 27, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11580-11582]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office 
[www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-4505]


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

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.

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

SUMMARY: The United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, and the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, have completed 
an inventory of human remains, in consultation with the appropriate Indian 
tribes, and have determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the 
human remains and present-day Indian tribes. Representatives of any Indian 
tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains 
may contact the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona. Repatriation of 
the human remains 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 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 hereby 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 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 were removed from sites within 
the boundaries of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, Gila and Navajo 
Counties, 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.

[[Page 11581]]

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 Indian Reservation, 
Arizona; and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1979, legally authorized test excavations were conducted at site AZ 
P:14:264 (ASM), Navajo County, AZ, by the University of Arizona Archaeological 
Field School, under the direction of Brian Byrd. No human burials were 
intentionally excavated during this project. Archeological collections from 
the site were brought to the museum at the end of the field season, but no 
accession number was assigned to them. In 2011, ASM staff found fragmentary 
human remains representing, at minimum, one individual intermingled with 
animal bone collections from this site. The animal bones are not considered to 
be associated funerary objects. No known individuals were identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    Site AZ P:14:264 is a sherd and lithic scatter located near the test 
excavation sites. Based on the ceramic assemblage, the site has been dated to 
the period A.D. 1000-1400. The ceramic forms are consistent with the 
archeologically-described Upland Mogollon or prehistoric Western Pueblo 
traditions.
    In 1979, legally authorized test excavations were conducted at site AZ 
P:14:296 (ASM), Navajo County, AZ, by the University of Arizona Archaeological 
Field School, under the direction of Brian Byrd. No human burials were 
intentionally excavated during this project. Archeological collections from 
the site were brought to the museum at the end of the field season, but no 
accession number was assigned to them. In 2011, ASM staff found fragmentary 
human remains representing, at minimum, one individual intermingled with 
animal bone collections from this site. The animal bones are not considered to 
be associated funerary objects. No known individuals were identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    Site AZ P:14:296 consists of a sherd and lithic scatter. In addition, the 
remains of at least one pit house were located near the test excavation sites. 
Based on the ceramic assemblage and architectural forms, the site has been 
dated to A.D. 700-900. The ceramic and architectural forms are consistent with 
the archeologically-described Upland Mogollon or prehistoric Western Pueblo 
traditions.
    In 1979, legally authorized test excavations were conducted at site AZ 
P:14:297 (ASM), Navajo County, AZ, by the University of Arizona Archaeological 
Field School, under the direction of Brian Byrd. No human burials were 
intentionally excavated during this project. Archeological collections from 
the site were brought to the museum at the end of the field season, but no 
accession number was assigned to them. In 2011, ASM staff found fragmentary 
human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals intermingled with 
animal bone collections from this site. The animal bones are not considered to 
be associated funerary objects. No known individuals were identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    Site AZ P:14:297 is a sherd and lithic scatter. In addition, the remains 
of at least one pit house were located near the test excavation sites. Based 
on a tree ring date, the site has been dated to the period A.D. 800-1000. The 
ceramic and architectural forms are consistent with the archeologically-
described Upland Mogollon or prehistoric Western Pueblo traditions.
    In 1979, legally authorized test excavations were conducted at site AZ 
V:2:72 (ASM), Gila County, AZ, by the University of Arizona Archaeological 
Field School, under the direction of Brian Byrd. No human burials were 
intentionally excavated during this project. Archeological collections from 
the site were brought to the museum at the end of the field season, but no 
accession number was assigned to them. In 2011, ASM staff found fragmentary 
human remains representing, at minimum, one individual intermingled with 
animal bone collections from this site. The animal bones are not considered to 
be associated funerary objects. No known individuals were identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    Site AZ V:2:72 is a rock shelter located in the same vicinity as Hole 
Canyon Pueblo, site AZ V:2:5. Based on the ceramic assemblage, the site has 
been dated to A.D. 1000-1200. The ceramic forms are consistent with the 
archeologically-described Upland Mogollon or prehistoric Western Pueblo 
traditions.
    A detailed discussion of the basis for cultural affiliation of 
archeological sites in the region where the above sites are 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 sites 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, which is located in close proximity to the sites listed 
above, 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 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

[[Page 11582]]

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 these ancient 
sites were occupied. Some Apache traditions describe interactions with 
Ancestral Puebloan 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 from these ancestral 
Upland Mogollon sites. 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 from 
these ancestral Upland Mogollon sites and is ready to assist the Hopi Tribe of 
Arizona and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, in their reburial 
on tribal land.

Determinations Made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Arizona State 
Museum

    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 five individuals 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 
remains 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 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 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 Indian Reservation, 
Arizona; and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: February 2, 2012.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2012-4505 Filed 2-24-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P