Notice2025-12830

Notice of Intended Repatriation: Arizona State University, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Tempe, AZ

Primary source

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Published
July 10, 2025

Issuing agencies

Interior DepartmentNational Park Service

Abstract

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Center for Archaeology and Society Repository (acting in place of the Arizona State University School of Human Evolution and Social Change) intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and/or 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 130 (Thursday, July 10, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 130 (Thursday, July 10, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30670-30671]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-12830]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0040476; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intended Repatriation: Arizona State University, School 
of Human Evolution and Social Change, Tempe, AZ

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 Center for Archaeology and Society 
Repository (acting in place of the Arizona State University School of 
Human Evolution and Social Change) intends to repatriate certain 
cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary 
objects, sacred objects, and/or 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 August 11, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the 
cultural items in this notice to Allisen Dahlstedt, Arizona State 
University, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, P.O. Box 
872402, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#db9ab7b7b2a8beb5f59fbab3b7a8afbebfaf9bbaa8aef5bebfae"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="0a4b666663796f64244e6b6266797e6f6e7e4a6b797f246f6e7f">[email&#160;protected]</span></a> and 
Christopher Caseldine, Arizona State University, School of Human 
Evolution and Social Change, P.O. Box 872402, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, 
email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c182a9b3a8b2b5aeb1a9a4b3ef82a0b2a4ada5a8afa481a0b2b4efa4a5b4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="77341f051e040318071f120559341604121b131e19123716040259121302">[email&#160;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 
Arizona State University Center for Archaeology and Society Repository, 
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 22 cultural items have been requested for repatriation.
    The 10 unassociated funerary objects are one lot of shell objects, 
one lot of ceramic objects, two lots of chipped stone objects, one lot 
of glass objects, one lot of ground stone objects, two lots of daub 
objects, one other stone object, and one lot of fragmentary faunal 
bone.
    The 12 sacred objects/objects of cultural patrimony are one ceramic 
vessel, two lots of ceramic objects, one lot of worked faunal bone, one 
lot of unworked faunal bone, one lot of other stone objects, and six 
lots of shell objects.
    All of these cultural items were removed from the Las Colinas site 
in Maricopa County, AZ, some at an unknown date in 1959, by an 
undergraduate student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology 
at Arizona State University (ASU), and others in a separate undertaking 
in March of 1967 by personnel from ASU's Department of Sociology and 
Anthropology. The collections were curated by what was then the 
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, now the School of Human 
Evolution and Social Change, at ASU's Center for Archaeology and 
Society Repository.

Determinations

    The Arizona State University, SHESC, CASR, Tempe, AZ, has 
determined that:
    <bullet> The 10 unassociated funerary objects described in this 
notice are reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with 
or near human remains, and are connected, either at the time of death 
or later as part of the death rite or ceremony of a Native American 
culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a 
lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. The 
unassociated funerary objects have been identified by a preponderance 
of the evidence as related to human remains, specific individuals, or 
families, or removed from a specific burial site or burial area of an 
individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe 
or Native Hawaiian organization.
    <bullet> The 12 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

[[Page 30671]]

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 Ak Chin Indian Community; 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.

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 August 11, 2025. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the ASU Center for Archaeology and Society 
Repository 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 ASU Center 
for Archaeology and Society Repository 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: June 25, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-12830 Filed 7-9-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P


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Indexed from Federal Register on July 10, 2025.

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