[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 160 (Thursday, August 20, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42104-42105]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-19964]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, DC and New York University 
College of Dentistry, New York, NY

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    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 in the control of the U.S. 
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, DC, 
and in the physical custody of the New York University College of 
Dentistry, New York, NY. The human remains were removed from Hawikuh, 
Cibola County, NM.
    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.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Bureau 
of Indian Affairs and New York University College of Dentistry 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Zuni 
Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
    In February 1921, human remains representing a minimum of one 
individual were removed from ``Burial 1263'' at Hawikuh, Cibola County, 
NM, during legally permitted excavations by the Museum of the American 
Indian, Heye Foundation. At the time of excavation, the site of Hawikuh 
was located on Zuni tribal lands. In 1921, the human remains were 
accessioned into the collections of the Museum of the American Indian. 
In 1956, the Museum of the American Indian transferred the human 
remains to Dr. Theodore Kazamiroff, New York University College of 
Dentistry. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary 
objects are present.
    Records identify the human remains as ``Burial 1263'' from Hawikuh. 
Cranial morphology suggests that the human remains are consistent with 
an individual of Native American ancestry. Consultation evidence, 
historic documents, and archeological data indicate Hawikuh was a Zuni 
settlement occupied from the 14th to 17th centuries. Zuni traditions 
identify the region around Hawikuh as their ancestral territory. 
Archeological data suggest that the site was inhabited since circa A.D. 
1300. The first historic records of Hawikuh were made by the Spanish in 
1536; over the next 150 years the Spanish documented their visits and 
missions at Hawikuh, which they identified as one of the seven cities 
of Cibola. After the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Zuni resettled at the 
location of the current Zuni Pueblo. Oral tradition and historic 
records describe both the revolt and the subsequent aggregation of Zuni 
people at the Zuni Pueblo. For a number of years, some Zuni 
periodically returned to Hawikuh for short stays.
    The Spanish granted the land at Hawikuh and other Zuni villages to 
the Zuni in 1689. The Zuni have remained in the area to the present-
day. The present Zuni reservation was first established by Executive 
Order in 1877, although the boundaries were subsequently modified. The 
Zuni voted to hold elections under the Indian Reorganization Act in 
1934, and adopted a constitution in 1970. Today the Zuni Tribe is 
recognized as the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
    Officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and New York University 
College of Dentistry have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 
(9-10), the human remains described above represent the physical 
remains of one individual of Native American ancestry. Officials of the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs and New York University College of Dentistry 
also have determined that, 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 Zuni Tribe of the 
Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Dr. 
Louis Terracio, New York University College of Dentistry, 345 East 24th 
St., New York, NY 10010, telephone (212) 998-9917, before September 21, 
2009. Repatriation of the human remains to the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni 
Reservation, New Mexico may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    The New York University College of Dentistry and Bureau of Indian 
Affairs are responsible for notifying the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni 
Reservation of New Mexico that this notice has been published.


[[Page 42105]]


    Dated: July 24, 2009.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-19964 Filed 8-19-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S