Notice2022-12428
Notice of Inventory Completion: Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM
Primary source
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Published
June 9, 2022
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of New Mexico, has completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects, in consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects and present-day Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to request transfer of control of these human remains and associated funerary objects should submit a written request to the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture. If no additional requestors come forward, transfer of control of the human remains and associated funerary objects to the lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice may proceed.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 111 (Thursday, June 9, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 111 (Thursday, June 9, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35244-35246]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-12428]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0034031; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Museum of Indian Arts & 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 & Culture, Museum of New Mexico, has
completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary
objects, in consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes or Native
Hawaiian organizations, and has determined that there is a cultural
affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects
and present-day Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. Lineal
descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian
organization not identified in this notice that wish to request
transfer of control of these human remains and associated funerary
objects should submit a written request to the Museum of Indian Arts &
Culture. If no additional requestors come forward, transfer of control
of the human remains and associated funerary objects to the lineal
descendants, Indian Tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in
this notice may proceed.
DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in
support of the request to the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture at the
address in this notice by July 11, 2022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Julia Clifton, Curator of
Archaeological Research Collections, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture,
710 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, NM 87504, telephone (505) 476-4444, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2e445b42474f004d4247485a41406e5d5a4f5a4b004043005b5d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8de7f8e1e4eca3eee1e4ebf9e2e3cdfef9ecf9e8a3e3e0a3f8fe">[email protected]</span></a>.
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 human remains and
associated funerary objects under the control of the Museum of Indian
Arts & Culture, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM. The human remains
and associated funerary objects were removed from the Palace of the
Governors, Santa Fe, NM.
This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's
administrative
[[Page 35245]]
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.
Consultation
A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Museum
of Indian Arts & Culture professional staff in consultation with
representatives of the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico
(previously listed as Pueblo of San Juan); Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico;
Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico;
Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico; and
the Santo Domingo Pueblo (previously listed as Kewa Pueblo, New Mexico,
and as Pueblo of Santo Domingo) (hereafter referred to as ``The
Tribes'').
History and Description of the Remains
As described below, in 1962, 1965, and 1974-1975, human remains
representing, at minimum, 26 individuals were removed from the Palace
of the Governors in Santa Fe County, NM. The Palace building is owned
by the Museum of New Mexico (MNM) and is part of the New Mexico History
Museum. The fragmentary human remains belong to 16 adults, two
adolescents, two children, and six infants. With two exceptions, the
human remains of all 26 individuals were recovered from sediments below
the 20th century floor of the Palace structure.
In 1962, during the renovation of Room 4 of the Palace of the
Governors, sub-floor excavations were conducted by Museum staff members
Bruce Ellis and Stanly Stubbs. In deposits dating to the Pueblo Revolt
era (A.D. 1680-1693), the fragmentary remains of an infant 7-10 months
old were recovered.
In 1965, while the floor of the Southeast room of the Palace was
being replaced, excavations were conducted by volunteers under the
direction of MNM staff member Robert Alexander. The fragmentary remains
belonging to one female adult, one adolescent who was probably male and
approximately 15-18 years old, and one adult of undetermined sex were
recovered.
In late 1974 and early 1975, prior to planned renovations to the
Palace interior, extensive excavations under the floors of Rooms 5, 7,
8, and the West Hall were undertaken by Museum personnel and volunteers
under the direction of Cordelia Snow. The extremely fragmentary remains
belonging to three adult females, five infants under the age of one
year, two children between the age of one and three years, two
adolescents 11-14 years old, and eight adults of undetermined sex were
recovered.
In 1974, a foot bone belonging to an adult of undetermined sex and
a tooth belonging to an adult of undetermined sex were recovered from
the Patio area of the Palace. No stratigraphic context was recorded for
these two individuals.
Immediately following excavation, all the human remains listed in
this notice were transferred to the Laboratory of Anthropology (now the
Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology), a sister
agency of the New Mexico History Museum within the Museum of New
Mexico. No known individuals were identified. The four associated
funerary objects are one lot of fabric remnants, one sherd, one
Olivella shell bead, and one metal straight pin.
Established in 1610 by Spanish colonists from Mexico as the seat of
their colonial administration, the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe,
New Mexico is one of the oldest continually occupied buildings in the
continental United States. Extensively modified over the centuries,
today it occupies a place on the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe. According
to oral historical information from the Pueblo of Tesuque, before the
Spanish arrived in the area, the area of downtown Santa Fe had been
occupied for centuries by the Pueblo's Tewa ancestors as the village of
Oga-Pogee (the place of the white shell). During the Pueblo Revolt of
1680, the Palace served as a fortress for besieged Spanish colonists.
Historical records indicate that from late 1680, when the colonists
retreated to the El Paso area, until the return of the Spanish in
December 1693, the Palace was rebuilt as a Pueblo village and inhabited
by Northern and Southern Tewa people. This Native occupation is
supported by archeological and geographic information, and its
occupation by the ancestors of several contemporary Tribes is
consistent with historical documents relating to the fate of the
original Palace of the Governors following the Pueblo Revolt.
Over the four years following the return of the Spanish, New Mexico
was wracked by widespread violence, as Diego de Vargas and his army
attempted to subdue the Pueblos. The refugees from the Pueblo that had
been established in the Palace of the Governors fled to other villages,
but many of those villages, in turn, were subsequently abandoned or
destroyed by Vargas, creating additional waves of refugees. The events
of this period are complex and painful, and probably because they are
so traumatic, are not easily accessible through oral history. Most of
the Tewa villages (the Pueblos of Tesuque, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso,
Santa Clara, Nambe, and Ohkay Owingeh) occupied by the Northern Tewa
managed to survive this tumultuous period and are still occupied today
by their descendants. The Southern Tewa villages located southeast of
Santa Fe were abandoned during this period of violence and political
unrest. By 1706, the Southern Tewa had left their villages and moved
north, to Santa Fe and beyond, and into the region occupied by the
Northern Tewa, as well as west, to the Pueblo of Santo Domingo and the
Hopi villages.
Except for the fragmentary human remains of the individuals
recovered from the Palace Patio, the human remains of all the other
individuals, which were recovered from sub-floor deposits, date to the
Native American occupation of the building following the Pueblo Revolt
in August 1680. While the stratigraphic contexts for the human remains
of the two individuals recovered from the Palace Patio in 1974 were not
recorded, no Spanish Colonial or historic Euro-American burials are
documented in the Palace Courtyard/Patio area north of the current
Palace structure, within what could have been the limits of the post-
Revolt era Pueblo. Consequently, the single metatarsal element and the
tooth found in this area are presumed to be Native American and related
either to the pre-Spanish occupation or to the Revolt era occupation by
Puebloan people.
Determinations Made by the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of
New Mexico
Officials of the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of New
Mexico have determined that:
<bullet> Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described
in this notice represent the physical remains of 26 individuals of
Native American ancestry.
<bullet> Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the four objects
described in this notice 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.
<bullet> 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 Tribes.
[[Page 35246]]
Additional Requestors and Disposition
Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in
support of the request to Ms. Julia Clifton, Curator of Archaeological
Research Collections, Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, 710 Camino Lejo,
Santa Fe, NM 87504, telephone (505) 476-4444, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8fe5fae3e6eea1ece3e6e9fbe0e1cffcfbeefbeaa1e1e2a1fafc"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="84eef1e8ede5aae7e8ede2f0ebeac4f7f0e5f0e1aaeae9aaf1f7">[email protected]</span></a>, by July 11, 2022. After that date, if no
additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the
human remains and associated funerary objects to The Tribes may
proceed.
The Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, Museum of New Mexico is
responsible for notifying The Tribes that this notice has been
published.
Dated: June 1, 2022.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2022-12428 Filed 6-8-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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