Notice2025-10589
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, NM
Primary source
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Published
June 11, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 111 (Wednesday, June 11, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 111 (Wednesday, June 11, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24659-24660]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-10589]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0040319; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Museum of Indian Arts and
Culture, Santa Fe, NM
AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition
of sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony and that have a
cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian
organizations in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after July 11, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the
cultural items in this notice to Diana Sherman, Museum of Indian Arts
and Culture, 708 Old Cochiti Road, Santa Fe, NM 87507, email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4d29242c232c633e25283f202c230d292e2c632320632a223b"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="63070a020d024d100b06110e020d230700024d0d0e4d040c15">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA.
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, and additional information on the
determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation,
can be found in the summary or related records. The National Park
Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
Abstract of Information Available
A total of 92 lots of cultural items have been requested for
repatriation. The 92 sacred objects/objects of cultural patrimony are
five lots of botanical/vegetal material, 58 lots of ceramic material,
two lots of fauna material, 10 lots of groundstone material, 12 lots of
lithic material, two lots of mixed materials, and three lots of beads/
ornaments cultural items have been requested for repatriation. The
cultural items include lithic flakes and tools, pottery sherds and
partial vessels, manos and metate fragments, animal bone both worked
and unmodified, beads and ornamental objects, botanical materials and
soil or pollen, and historic objects. This site, which has been dated
as a Pueblo II site within Santa Fe County, NM, was excavated in 1952
by
[[Page 24660]]
the Museum of New Mexico. All the individual ancestors who were removed
from their burials were sent to the Museum of Us in San Diego and were
later repatriated to Pojoaque Pueblo from there. The exception is one
ancestor who remained there and is currently being repatriated to
Pojoaque, as she should have been included in the repatriation, as are
a few fragmentary ancestors found in boxes of animal bone at the
Museum. The rest of the cultural items remained at the Museum. A
consultation with Pojoaque Pueblo and five other New Mexico Tewa
Pueblos led to Pojoaque being the repatriating Tribe and determined
Pojoaque Pueblo is culturally affiliated with this site. It is the
Pueblo of Pojoaque who is requesting the repatriation of these cultural
items. There are no known hazardous substances used to treat these
cultural items.
Determinations
The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture has determined that:
<bullet> The 92 lots of sacred objects/objects of cultural
patrimony described in this notice are, according to the Native
American traditional knowledge of an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian
organization, specific ceremonial objects needed by a traditional
Native American religious leader for present-day adherents to practice
traditional Native American religion, and have ongoing historical,
traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native American
group, including any constituent sub-group (such as a band, clan,
lineage, ceremonial society, or other subdivision).
<bullet> There is a reasonable connection between the cultural
items described in this notice and the Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico.
Requests for Repatriation
Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items
in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified
in this notice under ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be
submitted by any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian
organization not identified in this notice who shows, by a
preponderance of the evidence, that the requestor is a lineal
descendant or a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian
organization.
Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice to a requestor
may occur on or after July 11, 2025. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture must
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation.
Requests for joint repatriation of the cultural items are considered a
single request and not competing requests. The Museum of Indian Arts
and Culture is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the
Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this
notice and to any other consulting parties.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.
Dated: May 28, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-10589 Filed 6-10-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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