[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 47 (Thursday, March 12, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10773-10774]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-5337]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, Forest Service, Coronado National Forest, Tucson, AZ and 
Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

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. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate cultural items in the control of the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, Forest Service, Coronado National Forest, Tucson, AZ, and 
in the possession of the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, 
Tucson, AZ, that meets 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 cultural 
items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations in this notice.
    Between 1979 and 1980, two cultural items were removed from a 
prehistoric site (EE:2:79) within the ANAMAX-Rosemont Project in the 
Santa Rita Mountains, Coronado National Forest, Pima County, AZ, during 
legally authorized excavations by the Arizona State Museum, University 
of Arizona. The two unassociated funerary objects are a ceramic bowl 
and charcoal.
    Between 1979 and 1980, one cultural item was removed from a 
prehistoric site (EE:2:113) within the ANAMAX-Rosemont Project in the 
Santa Rita Mountains, Coronado National Forest, Pima County, AZ, during 
legally authorized excavations by the Arizona State Museum, University 
of Arizona. The one unassociated funerary object is a stone palette.
    The three cultural items have remained in the possession of the 
Arizona State Museum since their excavation. Based on architecture, 
material culture and site organization, the two sites (EE:2:79 and 
EE:2:113) within the ANAMAX-Rosemont Project have been identified as 
Pre-Classic Hohokam village occupations dating between A.D. 450 and 
1150. Continuities of ethnographic materials, technology and 
architecture indicate the affiliation of Hohokam sites in the area of 
the Anamax-Rosemont Project with present-day O'odham cultures. The oral 
traditions of the Ak-Chin Indian Community of the Maricopa (Ak Chin) 
Indian Reservation, Arizona; Gila River Indian Community of the Gila 
River Indian Reservation, Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian 
Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona; and Tohono O'odham 
Nation, Arizona, support the cultural affiliation of these four Indian 
tribes with Hohokam sites in this area of southeastern Arizona. The 
oral traditions of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni 
Reservation, New Mexico indicate some cultural ties or relationships to 
certain portions of southeastern Arizona in the late Post-Classic 
Period (A.D. 1300-1450). While the Hopi Tribe and Zuni Tribe have 
cultural ties to certain portions of southeastern Arizona in the late 
Pre-Classic Period, the Ak-Chin Indian Community of the Maricopa (Ak 
Chin) Indian Reservation, Arizona; Gila River Indian Community of the 
Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian 
Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona; and Tohono O'odham 
Nation, Arizona, have a closer cultural relationship and affiliation 
with these Pre-Classic Period sites within the ANAMAX-Rosemont Project.
    Officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, 
Coronado National Forest have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 
3001 (3)(B), the three 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. Officials 
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Coronado 
National Forest 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 unassociated funerary objects and the Ak-
Chin Indian Community of the Maricopa (Ak Chin) Indian Reservation, 
Arizona; Gila River Indian Community

[[Page 10774]]

of the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; 
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River 
Reservation, Arizona; Tohono O'odham Nation, Arizona; and Zuni Tribe of 
the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Dr. Frank E. Wozniak, NAGPRA Coordinator, Southwestern Region, 
USDA Forest Service, 333 Broadway Blvd., SE, Albuquerque, NM 87102, 
telephone (505) 842-3238, before April 13, 2009. Repatriation of the 
unassociated funerary objects to the Ak-Chin Indian Community of the 
Maricopa (Ak Chin) Indian Reservation, Arizona; Gila River Indian 
Community of the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona; Hopi Tribe of 
Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River 
Reservation, Arizona; Tohono O'odham Nation, Arizona; and Zuni Tribe of 
the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Coronado 
National Forest is responsible for notifying the Ak-Chin Indian 
Community of the Maricopa (Ak Chin) Indian Reservation, Arizona; Gila 
River Indian Community of the Gila River Indian Reservation, Arizona; 
Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the 
Salt River Reservation, Arizona; Tohono O'odham Nation, Arizona; and 
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: February 12, 2009
Sangita Chari,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E9-5337 Filed 3-11-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S