[Federal Register: April 17, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 75)]
[Notices]
[Page 20948-20949]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17ap08-77]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Forest Service, Cibola National Forest, Albuquerque, NM
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 and associated funerary
objects in the possession and control of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Forest Service, Cibola National Forest, Albuquerque, NM.
The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from
Socorro 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 and associated funerary objects. The National
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by Cibola
National Forest professional staff in consultation with the Pueblo of
Ysleta del Sur of Texas.
In 1987, human remains representing a minimum of one individual
were removed from AR 03-03-03-334 in Socorro County, NM, by Forest
Service personnel following the report of the presence of a human skull
on the surface of the site from the Socorro County Sheriff's
Department. The human remains have been curated in a secure storage
facility at the Forest Supervisor's Office of the Cibola National
Forest and were discovered during a recent review by Forest Service
personnel of the contents of boxes in that facility. No known
individual was identified. The 15 associated funerary objects are
pottery sherds, charcoal and chipped stone.
Archeological evidence of both material culture and settlement
patterns indicate that site AR 03-03-03-334 is a small pre-historic
Puebloan habitation site that was occupied intermittently between A.D.
900 to A.D. 1250/1300 (Pueblo II/Pueblo III). The site is ancestral to
the nearby large, late prehistoric Puebloan site at Gallinas Springs
(occupied from the 14th to 16th century). The Gallinas Springs site was
[[Page 20949]]
a part of the Piro Province in early contact era New Mexico (16th
century). Archeological and historical evidence link the inhabitants of
the Piro Province to the present-day inhabitants of the Pueblo of
Ysleta del Sur of Texas. Based on material culture, site organization
and architecture, site AR 03-03-03-334 has been identified as a small,
prehistoric Puebloan habitation site that was occupied between A.D. 900
and A.D. 1250/1300, in the Piro Province of central New Mexico. The
present-day descendants of the Piro Province populations are the Pueblo
of Ysleta del Sur of Texas. Oral traditions provided by representatives
of the Pueblo of Ysleta del Sur of Texas support cultural affiliation.
Officials of the Cibola National Forest 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 Cibola National Forest also have determined
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(A), the 15 objects 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. Lastly, officials of the Cibola National Forest 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 associated funerary
objects and the Pueblo of Ysleta del Sur of Texas.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and/or associated
funerary objects should contact Dr. Frank E. Wozniak, NAGPRA
Coordinator, Southwestern Region, USDA Forest Service, 333 Broadway
Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, NM 87102, telephone (505) 842-3238, before
May 19, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary
objects to the Pueblo of Ysleta del Sur of Texas may proceed after that
date if no additional claimants come forward.
Cibola National Forest is responsible for notifying the Pueblo of
Ysleta del Sur of Texas that this notice has been published.
Dated: March 18, 2008.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-8307 Filed 4-17-08; 8:45 am]
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