[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 76 (Thursday, April 19, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23498-23499]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9441]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: The Colorado 
College, Colorado Springs, CO

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Colorado College, in consultation with the appropriate 
Indian tribe, has determined that the cultural items meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects and repatriation to the 
Hopi Tribe of Arizona 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 Colorado 
College.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the cultural items should contact The 
Colorado College at the address below by May 21, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Jermyn Davis, Chief of Staff, President's Office, Colorado 
College, Armstrong Hall, Room 201, 14 E. Cache La Poudre, Colorado 
Springs, CO 80903, telephone (719) 389-6201.

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 under the 
control of The Colorado College that meet the definition of 
unassociated funerary objects under 25 U.S.C. 3001.

[[Page 23499]]

    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 11 unassociated funerary objects are one basket and 10 ceramic 
items. The ceramic items are four bowls; two pipes; one miniature jar; 
two ladles, one of which contains beans; and one pitcher. The vessel 
styles are brown-on-red zoomorphic; red-ware; Tsegi orange-ware; black-
on-tan and red; buff-ware; and oxidized black or brown-on-buff. Between 
1897 and 1898, human remains, associated and unassociated funerary 
objects, as well as other cultural items were removed from Canyon de 
Chelly, Apache County, AZ, under the auspices of the Lang Expedition of 
1897-1898. Prior to 1900, General William Jackson Palmer acquired what 
became known as the Lang-Bixby Collection, which he subsequently 
transferred to The Colorado College. Beginning in the late 1960s, the 
Lang-Bixby Collection was transferred, along with other collections 
from The Colorado College Museum, through long-term loans to the Fine 
Arts Center (formerly known as the Taylor Museum and the Colorado 
Springs Fine Arts Center) and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science 
(formerly known as the Denver Museum of Natural History). In 1993, the 
Fine Arts Center included the unassociated funerary objects from the 
Lang-Bixby Collection in its NAGPRA summary.
    The unassociated funerary objects are ancestral Puebloan based on 
type and style. The human remains and associated funerary objects from 
this collection were described in two Notices of Inventory Completion 
(NICs) published in the Federal Register (69 FR 19920, April 14, 2004, 
and 74 FR 48779-48780, September 24, 2009). The human remains and 
associated funerary objects were determined to be Ancestral Puebloan. A 
relationship of shared group identity can reasonably be traced between 
ancestral Puebloan peoples and modern Puebloan peoples based on oral 
tradition and scientific studies. The human remains and associated 
funerary objects have been repatriated to the Hopi Tribe of Arizona. A 
preponderance of the evidence supports cultural affiliation of the 
unassociated funerary objects to the Hopi Tribe of Arizona.

Determinations Made by The Colorado College

    Officials of The Colorado College have determined that:
    <bullet> Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 11 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 
unassociated funerary objects and the Hopi Tribe of Arizona.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Jermyn Davis, Chief of Staff, President's Office, Colorado 
College, Armstrong Hall, Room 201, 14 E. Cache La Poudre, Colorado 
Springs, CO 80903, telephone (719) 389-6201, before May 21, 2012. 
Repatriation of the unassociated funerary objects to the Hopi Tribe of 
Arizona may proceed after that date if no additional claimants come 
forward.
    The Colorado College is responsible for notifying the Hopi Tribe of 
Arizona that this notice has been published.

    Dated: April 12, 2012
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2012-9441 Filed 4-18-12; 8:45 am]
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