[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 163 (Tuesday, August 24, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52017-52019]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-20946]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington, DC, 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. 3003, of the
completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary
objects in the control of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau
of Indian Affairs, Washington, DC, and in the physical custody of the
Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. The human
remains and associated funerary
[[Page 52018]]
objects were removed from sites within the boundaries of the Fort
Apache Indian Reservation, Gila County, AZ.
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 Arizona
State Museum professional staff in consultation with representatives of
the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort
Apache Reservation, Arizona; and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni
Reservation, New Mexico.
In 1978, human remains representing a minimum of 65 individuals
were removed from Spotted Mountain Ruin, AZ V:2:3(ASM), Gila County,
AZ, during legally authorized salvage activities conducted by the
University of Arizona Archaeological Field School under the direction
of Madeleine Hinkes. The site had previously been extensively
vandalized, and the objective of the University of Arizona
archeologists was to recover all the human remains and associated
funerary objects which had been disturbed. The collections were
accessioned by the Arizona State Museum in 1978. No known individuals
were identified. The 179 associated funerary objects are 155 ceramic
sherds, 3 ceramic vessels, 1 stone drill, 14 stone projectile points, 1
stone drill base, 1 shell fragment, 1 stone core and 3 pieces of flaked
stone.
The Spotted Mountain Ruin is a pueblo site with at least 80 rooms
and an associated plaza. The architectural forms and ceramic types
indicate that the village was occupied during the period A.D. 1275-
1400. These characteristics are consistent with the archeologically
described Upland Mogollon or prehistoric Western Pueblo traditions.
In 1971, fragmentary human remains representing a minimum of four
individuals were removed from the August 13th Site, AZ V:2:9(ASM), Gila
County, AZ, during a legally authorized survey conducted by the
University of Arizona Archaeological Field School under the direction
of William Longacre. The site had previously been vandalized, and the
objective of the University of Arizona survey was to recover all the
human remains which had been disturbed. The collections were
accessioned by the Arizona State Museum in 1971. No known individuals
were identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
The site was described in field notes as a pueblo of at least 200
rooms. It is probable that this site is actually the same locality as
the Blue House Mountain Site, AZ V:2:13(ASM). The architectural forms
and ceramic types indicate that the village was occupied during the
period A.D. 1275-1400. These characteristics are consistent with the
archeologically described Upland Mogollon or prehistoric Western Pueblo
traditions.
In 1979, fragmentary human remains representing a minimum of three
individuals were removed from the Blue House Mountain Site, AZ
V:2:13(ASM), Gila County, AZ, during a legally authorized survey
conducted by the University of Arizona Archaeological Field School
under the direction of Madeleine Hinkes. A report prepared by Madeleine
Hinkes describes the presence of 20 to 30 unauthorized excavations and
scattered bone at this site, but does not state whether or not the bone
was collected during her survey. There is no record in Arizona State
Museum files regarding the accession of these human remains. However,
the container in which the human remains were found is labeled July 8,
1979. No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary
objects are present.
The Blue House Mountain Site is a 140 room pueblo. The
architectural forms and ceramic types indicate that the village was
occupied during the period A.D. 1275-1400. These characteristics are
consistent with the archeologically described Upland Mogollon or
prehistoric Western Pueblo traditions.
On an unknown date, fragmentary human remains representing a
minimum of one individual were removed from the T-20 Site, AZ
V:2:14(ASM), Gila County, AZ. It is possible that the human remains
were collected in 1979, at the same time that nearby sites were visited
during legally authorized surveys conducted by the University of
Arizona Archaeological Field School under the direction of Madeleine
Hinkes. There is no record in Arizona State Museum files regarding the
accession of these human remains, but the fact that they were found in
the same storage location as the human remains from site AZ V:2:13(ASM)
suggests that they were brought to the museum at the same time. No
known individual was identified. The one associated funerary object is
a chert flake.
The T-20 Site has been dated to the period A.D. 900-1000, based on
the types of ceramics present on the ground surface and surface
indications of pithouse architecture. These characteristics indicate
that the occupation of the site is likely related to an early phase of
the archeologically described Upland Mogollon or prehistoric Western
Pueblo traditions.
On an unknown date, fragmentary human remains representing a
minimum of four individuals were removed from Canyon Butte Pueblo, AZ
V:2:49(ASM), Gila County, AZ. It is probable that the human remains
were collected in 1979 during legally authorized surveys conducted by
the University of Arizona Archaeological Field School under the
direction of Madeleine Hinkes. A report prepared by Madeleine Hinkes
describes the presence of five unauthorized excavations with a scatter
of human and non-human bone at this site, but does not state whether or
not the bone was collected during her survey. There is no record in
Arizona State Museum files regarding the accession of these human
remains, but the fact that they were found in the same storage location
as the human remains from site AZ V:2:13(ASM) suggests that they were
brought to the museum at the same time as that collection. No known
individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects are
present.
Canyon Butte Pueblo is an L-shaped masonry building of 40 to 65
rooms, with a walled plaza. The architectural forms and ceramic types
indicate that the village was occupied during the period A.D. 1275-
1400. These characteristics are consistent with the archeologically
described Upland Mogollon or prehistoric Western Pueblo traditions.
A detailed discussion of the basis for cultural affiliation of
archeological sites in the region where the above sites are located may
be found in ``Cultural Affiliation Assessment of White Mountain Apache
Tribal Lands (Fort Apache Indian Reservation),'' by John R. Welch and
T.J. Ferguson (2005). The results of their assessment may be summarized
as follows. Archeologists have used the terms Upland Mogollon or
prehistoric Western Pueblo to define the archeological complexes
represented by the five sites listed above. Material culture
characteristics of these traditions include a temporal progression from
earlier pit houses to later masonry pueblos, villages organized in room
blocks of contiguous dwellings associated with plazas, rectangular
kivas, polished and paint-decorated ceramics, unpainted
[[Page 52019]]
corrugated ceramics, inhumation burials, cradleboard cranial
deformation, grooved stone axes and bone artifacts. The combination of
the material culture attributes and a subsistence pattern that included
hunting and gathering augmented by maize agriculture helps to recognize
an identifiable earlier group. Archeologists have also remarked that
there are strong similarities between this earlier group and present-
day tribes included in the Western Pueblo ethnographic group,
especially including the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and the Zuni Tribe of
the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico. The similarities in ceramic
traditions, burial practices, architectural forms and settlement
patterns have led archeologists to believe that the prehistoric
inhabitants of the Mogollon Rim region migrated north and west to the
Hopi mesas, and north and east to the Zuni River Valley. Certain
objects found in Upland Mogollon archeological sites have been found to
have strong resemblances with ritual paraphernalia that are used in
continuing religious practices by the Hopi and Zuni. Some petroglyphs
on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation have also persuaded archeologists
of continuities between the earlier identified group and current-day
Western Pueblo people. Biological information from the site of
Grasshopper Pueblo, which is located in close proximity to the five
sites listed above, supports the view that the prehistoric occupants of
the Upland Mogollon region had migrated from various locations to the
north and west of the region.
The archeological evidence for migration is paralleled by Hopi and
Zuni oral traditions. Migration figures prominently in Hopi oral
tradition, which refers to the ancient sites, pottery, stone tools,
petroglyphs and other artifacts left behind by the ancestors as ``Hopi
Footprints.'' This migration history is complex and detailed and
includes traditions relating specific clans to the Mogollon region.
Hopi cultural advisors have also identified medicinal and culinary
plants at archeological sites in the region. Their knowledge about
these plants was passed down to them from the ancestors who inhabited
these ancient sites. Migration is also an important attribute of Zuni
oral tradition and includes accounts of Zuni ancestors passing through
the Upland Mogollon region. The ancient villages mark the routes of
these migrations. Zuni cultural advisors remark that the ancient sites
were not abandoned. People returned to these places from time to time,
either to reoccupy them or for the purpose of religious pilgrimages --
a practice that has continued to the present-day. Archeologists have
found ceramic evidence at shrines in the Upland Mogollon region that
confirms these reports. Zuni cultural advisors have names for plants
endemic to the Mogollon region which do not grow on the Zuni
Reservation. They also have knowledge about traditional medicinal and
ceremonial uses for these resources, which has been passed down to them
from their ancestors. Furthermore, Hopi and Zuni cultural advisors have
recognized that their ancestors may have been co-resident at some of
the sites in this region during their ancestral migrations.
There are differing points of view regarding the possible presence
of Apache people in the Upland Mogollon region during the time that
these ancient sites were occupied. Some Apache traditions describe
interactions with Ancestral Pueblo people during this time, but
according to these stories, Puebloan people and Apache people were
regarded as having separate identities. The White Mountain Apache Tribe
of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona, does not claim cultural
affiliation with the human remains and associated funerary objects from
these five ancestral Upland Mogollon sites. As reported by Welch and
Ferguson (2005), consultations between the White Mountain Apache Tribe
of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona, and the Navajo Nation,
Arizona, New Mexico & Utah; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; and Pueblo of
Laguna, New Mexico, have indicated that that none of these tribes wish
to pursue claims of affiliation with sites on White Mountain Apache
Tribal lands. Finally, the White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort
Apache Reservation, Arizona, supports the repatriation of human remains
and associated funerary objects from these five ancestral Upland
Mogollon sites and is ready to assist the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and
Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, in reburial on tribal
land.
Officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Arizona State Museum
have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains
described above represent the physical remains of 77 individuals of
Native American ancestry. Officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and
Arizona State Museum also have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C.
3001(3)(A), the 180 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 Bureau of Indian Affairs and Arizona State Museum 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
Hopi Tribe of 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 human remains and associated funerary
objects should contact John McClelland, NAGPRA Coordinator, Arizona
State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, telephone (520)
626-2950, before September 23, 2010. Repatriation of the human remains
and associated funerary objects to the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and Zuni
Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, may proceed after that date
if no additional claimants come forward.
The Arizona State Museum is responsible for notifying the Hopi
Tribe of Arizona and Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico,
that this notice has been published.
Dated: August 18, 2010.
David Tarler,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2010-20946 Filed 8-23-10; 8:45 am]
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