[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 181 (Monday, September 19, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58035-58036]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-23964]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[2253-665]
Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office, Phoenix, AZ and Arizona
State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office and Arizona
State Museum have completed an inventory of a human remain, in
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, and have determined
that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remain and
present-day Indian Tribes. Representatives of any Indian Tribe that
believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remain may
contact the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office. Repatriation of
the human remain to the Indian Tribes stated below may occur if no
additional claimants come forward.
DATES: Representatives of any Indian Tribe that believes it has a
cultural affiliation with the human remain should contact the Bureau of
Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office at the address below by October 19,
2011.
ADDRESSES: Randy Chandler, Area Manager, Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix
Area Office, 6150 West Thunderbird Rd., Glendale, AZ 85306-4001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 a human remain in the
control of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation,
Phoenix Area Office, Phoenix, AZ, and in the physical custody of the
Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. The human
remain was removed from Pinal 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. The National Park Service is not responsible
for the determinations in this notice.
Consultation
A detailed assessment of the human remain was made by Arizona State
[[Page 58036]]
Museum professional staff on behalf of the Bureau of Reclamation,
Phoenix Area Office, in consultation with representatives 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; Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Salt River Pima-Maricopa
Indian Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona; Tohono O'odham
Nation of Arizona; and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New
Mexico (hereinafter referred to as ``The Tribes'').
History and Description of the Remains
Between February and May 1975, a human remain--a mandible
fragment--representing one individual was removed from a pack rat nest
located on the talus slope below the mouth of a rock shelter, site AZ
U: 16:213(ASM), in Pinal County, AZ, during a legally authorized Class
III (Intensive) cultural resource survey undertaken by the Arizona
State Museum for the Bureau of Reclamation. The site is located on the
north side of Gila River, east of Florence, and downstream of the
``Buttes'' on the Gila River where a proposed dam was to be built
during the Central Arizona Project. In 2010, Arizona State Museum
reviewed uncatalogued site survey collections, which revealed the
presence of this isolated Native American mandible fragment from a
survey on Reclamation withdrawn lands along the Middle Gila River.
There have been other Notices of Inventory Completion (NICs) published
in the Federal Register for the Central Arizona Project (39 FR 8996-
9002, February 27, 2002; 67 FR 45539-45540, July 9, 2002; and 67 FR
78247-78248, December 23, 2002). The materials reported in the earlier
NICs were repatriated to the affiliated Tribes in October and November
of 2002. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary
objects are present.
Site AZ U:16:213(ASM) was classified as a secondary habitation
site, and no diagnostic ceramics were present to place the site in a
temporal or cultural sequence. Nonetheless, on the basis of
archeological context, chronometric, architectural, ceramic, and other
types of artifactual evidence at adjacent sites recorded during the
survey, AZ U:16:213(ASM) most likely represents a Hohokam occupation of
the Middle Gila.
Evidence provided by anthropological, archeological, biological,
geographical, historical, kinship, linguistics, and oral tradition
sources was considered in determining the cultural affiliation of the
human remain. Bureau of Reclamation officials have determined that the
preponderance of the evidence suggests that the historic O'odham groups
(The Four Southern Tribes: 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 the Tohono
O'odham Nation of Arizona, including the San Xavier District) have a
strong cultural affiliation with the prehistoric Hohokam who occupied
the middle Gila Valley and surrounding areas. Great similarities in
settlement patterns, economic systems, architecture, and material
culture point to a close relationship between the Hohokam and the
O'odham groups. The O'odham were well established along the rivers and
in the deserts when the Spanish first arrived in northern Sonora and
southern Arizona.
One of the two Pima moieties claims descent from the Hohokam, while
the other moiety is said to have descended from the ``emergers,'' those
who overthrew the Hohokam leaders. Although the O'odham belong to the
same linguistic group (Piman) as communities in what is now northern
Mexico, shared vocabulary and syntax with Yuman language groups along
the Colorado River suggests a long-term history of interaction that
stretches back into prehistoric times in what is now southern Arizona.
Evidence also shows the affiliation of ancestral Zuni and Hopi
groups with the prehistoric Hohokam. Interaction is indicated by the
presence of trade items, particularly ceramics. Such interaction
continued into protohistoric and early historic times. In addition to
trade, Hopi and Zuni migration traditions indicate that clans
originating from areas south of the Colorado Plateau joined the plateau
communities late in prehistoric times. These groups contributed
ceremonies, societies, and iconography to the plateau groups. Both
O'odham and Western Pueblo oral traditions indicate that some Hohokam
groups may have left the Salt-Gila River Basin after disastrous floods
and social upheaval. These groups traveled north and east, possibly to
be assimilated by the Hopi and Zuni. These ties are reflected in some
of the traditional ceremonies maintained as part of the annual
ceremonial cycle. Their ancestors had trade relationships and other
likely interactions with the Hohokam, similar to those found between
groups in the early historic period. Hopi and Zuni oral traditions
indicate that segments of the prehistoric Hohokam population migrated
to the areas occupied by the Hopi and Zuni and were assimilated into
the resident populations. Therefore, the evidence suggests that the
Hopi and Zuni are also culturally affiliated with the Hohokam.
Determinations Made by the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office
Officials of the Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix Area Office have
determined that:
Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described
in this notice represent the physical remain of one individual of
Native American ancestry.
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 remain and The Tribes.
Additional Requestors and Disposition
Representatives of any other Indian Tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the human remain should contact, in
writing, Randy Chandler, Area Manager, Bureau of Reclamation, Phoenix
Area Office, 6150 West Thunderbird Rd., Glendale, AZ 85306-4001, before
October 19, 2011. Repatriation of the human remain to The Tribes may
proceed after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
The Bureau of Reclamation is responsible for notifying The Tribes;
Chemehuevi Indian Tribe of the Chemehuevi Reservation, California;
Cocopah Tribe of Arizona; Colorado River Indian Tribes of the Colorado
River Indian Reservation, Arizona and California; Fort McDowell Yavapai
Nation, Arizona; Fort Mohave Indian Tribe of Arizona, California &
Nevada; Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona; Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma
Indian Reservation, California & Arizona; San Carlos Apache Tribe of
the San Carlos Reservation, Arizona; Tonto Apache Tribe of Arizona;
White Mountain Apache Tribe of the Fort Apache Reservation, Arizona;
Yavapai-Apache Nation of the Camp Verde Indian Reservation, Arizona;
and Yavapai-Prescott Tribe of the Yavapai Reservation, Arizona, that
this notice has been published.
Dated: September 14, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-23964 Filed 9-16-11; 8:45 am]
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