[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 76 (Thursday, April 19, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23499-23500]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9439]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Museum of Indian 
Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, Museum of New Mexico, Santa 
Fe, NM

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of 
Anthropology, Museum of New Mexico, in consultation with the 
appropriate Indian tribe, has determined that the cultural items meet 
the definition of unassociated funerary objects and repatriation to the 
Indian tribe stated below may occur if no additional claimants come 
forward. Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the cultural items may contact the Museum of 
Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, Museum of New Mexico.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the cultural items should contact the Museum 
of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, Museum of New 
Mexico, at the address below by May 21, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Shelby Tisdale, Director, Museum of Indian Arts & 
Culture, Museum of New Mexico, P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, NM 87504, 
telephone (505) 476-1251.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 
U.S.C. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items in the 
possession of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of 
Anthropology, Museum of New Mexico, that meet the definition of 
unassociated funerary objects under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    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 cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    The 29 cultural items to be repatriated are funerary objects 
consisting of two Agua Fria glaze bowl fragments, four Agua Fria glaze-
on-red bowls, one Cieneguilla glaze-on-yellow cup, one Santa Fe black-
on-white bowl, one San Clemente glaze bowl, one selenite fragment, one 
ceramic pipe, eight pendants and pendant fragments, six bone beads from 
a cradle board, three lightening stones, and one fingerstone. These 
objects were removed from site LA 162 (Paa'ko site) in Bernalillo 
County, NM, during permitted excavations, conducted jointly by the 
Museum of New Mexico, the School of American Research, and the 
University of New Mexico between 1935 and 1937. Although the objects 
are recorded as excavated from numbered burials at site LA 162, the 
associated human remains are in the custody of the San Diego Museum of 
Man. Based on material culture, architectural features, and documentary 
evidence, the Paa'ko site dates to the period Pueblo IV through the 
early historic periods (AD 1300-1692).

[[Page 23500]]

    Based on documentation provided by the original excavators, the 
cultural items have been identified as funerary objects related to 
specific burials at the Paa'ko site. Based on burial location and 
associated material culture and architecture, the burials and funerary 
objects have been identified as Native American. These funerary objects 
have been identified as ancestral to the Pueblo of Santa Ana, New 
Mexico, by the museum's staff in consultation with representatives of 
Santa Ana Pueblo and archeologists working with descendant tribes who 
have ancestral ties to the Galisteo Basin area of northern NM, which 
includes the Paa'ko site. The people who inhabited this site are linked 
by Native oral tradition and archeological evidence to members of the 
present-day Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico.

Determinations Made by the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory 
of Anthropology, Museum of New Mexico

    Officials of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of 
Anthropology, Museum of New Mexico have determined that:
    <bullet> Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 29 cultural items 
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 and are believed, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual.
    <bullet> Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
funerary objects and the Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the funerary objects should contact Dr. 
Shelby Tisdale, Director, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, P.O. Box 
2087, Santa Fe, NM 87504, telephone (505) 476-1251, before May 21, 
2012. Repatriation of the funerary objects to the Pueblo of Santa Ana, 
New Mexico, may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
    The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, 
Museum of New Mexico is responsible for notifying the Pueblo of Santa 
Ana, New Mexico, that this notice has been published.

    Dated: April 12, 2012.
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2012-9439 Filed 4-18-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P