Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM, 68827-68828 [2012-27955]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 222 (Friday, November 16, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68827-68828]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-27955]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-11614;2200-1100-665]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: The Museum of 
Indian Arts and Culture, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, 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 and Culture.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the cultural items should contact the Museum 
of Indian Arts and Culture at the address below by December 17, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Elena Sweeney, Acting Director, Museum of Indian Arts and 
Culture, P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, NM 87504, telephone (505) 690-1415.

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 and Culture 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

    Between 1928 and 1932, joint excavations by the University of New 
Mexico and the School of American Research removed human remains and 
funerary objects from the Unshagi site (LA 123), in Sandoval County, 
NM. Human remains from these burials are under the control of the 
Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico and the 
Peabody Museum of Harvard University. The Museum of Indian Arts and 
Culture has control over seven unassociated funerary objects from the 
site, including one worked glycimeris shell, three Jemez Black-on-white 
bowls, one Kuaua Glaze Polychrome bowl, one Glaze F bowl, and one 
necklace made of fish-vertebrae. The seven objects were removed from 
numbered burials, but it is not possible to link these funerary objects 
with specific human remains in the Maxwell Museum or Peabody Museum 
collections.
    Between 1910 and 1913, excavations by the American Bureau of 
Ethnology and the School of American Research removed human remains and 
funerary objects from the Amoxiumqua site (LA 481), in Sandoval County, 
NM. Human remains from these burials are under the control of the 
Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. The Museum of Indian Arts and 
Culture has control over three unassociated funerary objects from the 
site, including two Jemez Black-on-white bowls and one strand of 
Venetian glass beads. The objects were removed from numbered burials, 
but it is not possible to link these funerary objects with specific 
human remains in the Smithsonian collection.
    In 1921, the School of American Research and the Laboratory of 
Anthropology removed human remains and funerary objects from the 
Guisewa site (LA 679), in Sandoval County, NM. Human remains from these 
burials are under the control of the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at 
the University of New Mexico. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture has 
control over five unassociated funerary objects from the site, 
including four Jemez Black-on-white bowls and one charred textile 
fragment. The objects were

[[Page 68828]]

removed from numbered burials, but it is not possible to link these 
funerary objects with specific human remains in the Maxwell Museum 
collection.
    In 1937, the University of New Mexico archaeological field school 
removed human remains and funerary objects from the Guisewa site (LA 
679), in Sandoval County, NM. Human remains from these burials are 
under the control of the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology at the 
University of New Mexico. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture has 
control over three unassociated funerary objects from the site, 
including one small culinary bowl, one Jemez Black-on-white bowl, and 
one restorable Black-on-white bowl. The objects were removed from 
numbered burials, but it is not possible to link these funerary objects 
with specific human remains in the Maxwell Museum collection.
    In 1965, the Museum of New Mexico removed human remains and 
funerary objects from the Guisewa site (LA 679), in Sandoval County, 
NM, prior to the installation of a new water line. Human remains from 
these burials are under the control of the Maxwell Museum of 
Anthropology at the University of New Mexico. The Museum of Indian Arts 
and Culture has control over three unassociated funerary objects from 
the site, including one corn, one lot of animal bones, and one small 
restorable utility ware bowl. The objects were removed from numbered 
burials, but it is not possible to link these funerary objects with 
specific human remains in the Maxwell Museum collection.
    At an unknown date, an unknown individual removed human remains and 
funerary objects from an excavated burial at the Giusewa site (LA 679), 
in Sandoval County, NM. The location of human remains from this site is 
unknown, but they are presumed to be in the collections of the Maxwell 
Museum of Anthropology. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture has 
control over one unassociated funerary object from the site. It is not 
possible to link this funerary object with specific human remains in 
the Maxwell Museum collection.
    Based on material culture and associated architecture, the 
unassociated funerary objects listed in this notice have been 
identified as Native American. The burials from which these objects 
were removed can be identified as ancestral Jemez because they came 
from known Puebloan sites of the upper Jemez River drainage. 
Populations that inhabited these sites are linked by Native oral 
tradition, Euro-American records, and archeological evidence to members 
of the present-day Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico.

Determinations Made by the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

    Officials of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture have determined 
that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 22 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.
     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 Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Elena Sweeney, Acting Director, Museum of Indian Arts and 
Culture, P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, NM 87504, telephone (505) 690-1415, 
before December 17, 2012. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary 
objects to the Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico, may proceed after that date 
if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of New Mexico, is 
responsible for notifying the Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico, that this 
notice has been published.

    Dated: October 25, 2012.
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2012-27955 Filed 11-15-12; 8:45 am]
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