Notice2025-22889
Notice of Intended Repatriation: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, Mountainair, NM
Primary source
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Published
December 16, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument (SAPU) intends to repatriate a certain cultural item that meets the definition of an unassociated funerary object and that has 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 239 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 239 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58294-58295]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-22889]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6614; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041345; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: U.S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument,
Mountainair, 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 U.S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument (SAPU)
intends to
[[Page 58295]]
repatriate a certain cultural item that meets the definition of an
unassociated funerary object and that has a cultural affiliation with
the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural item in this notice may occur on or
after January 15, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the
cultural item in this notice to Kathy Faz Garcia, Superintendent,
Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, 105 South Ripley Avenue,
P.O. Box #517, Mountainair, NM 87036, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7932180d1100263f1803263e180b1a10183917090a571e160f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="672c06130f1e3821061d38200615040e062709171449000811">[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
Superintendent, SAPU, and additional information on the determinations
in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in
the summary or related records.
Abstract of Information Available
A total of one cultural item has been requested for repatriation.
The unassociated funerary object is one miniature ceramic vessel.
During a 2024 review of SAPU museum exhibits and associated
documentation, an object that had been on display in the Gran Quivira
Museum was found to be listed on a 2003 Unassociated Funerary Object
Inventory. The miniature vessel (SAPU 3406) had been identified as
missing in previous museum collections inventories. It is unknown how
it ended up on display. The object was excavated as part National Park
Service permitted archeological research at Mound 7 at Gran Quivira (LA
120/SAPU 2.12) by Alden Hayes in 1965-1967. The vessel's provenience
was recorded as Room 12, subfloor, Burial 73 within Mound 7. It was
cataloged on April 8, 1966. The unassociated funerary object is in the
physical custody of the National Park Service at Salinas Pueblo
Missions National Monument in Mountainair, New Mexico, and has been
taken off display. The unassociated funerary object is not known to
have been treated with a hazardous substance.
The unassociated funerary object is from the same accession and
provenience as unassociated funerary objects repatriated in 2004. These
were determined through consultation as well as a cultural affiliation
study to be culturally affiliated with the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Piro-
Manso-Tiwa Indian Tribe of the Pueblo of San Juan de Guadalupe; Pueblo
of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez,
New Mexico; Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico; Santo Domingo Pueblo; Pueblo
of Taos, New Mexico, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo; and the Zuni Tribe of the
Zuni Reservation, New Mexico. Consultation specific to this vessel on
March 11, 2025, confirmed the Ancestral Puebloan affiliation of the
object, including the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo of Texas.
Determinations
SAPU has determined that:
<bullet> The one unassociated funerary object described in this
notice is reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or
near individual human remains, and is 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 object has 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> There is a connection between the cultural item described
in this notice and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo.
Requests for Repatriation
Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural item
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 item in this notice to a requestor may
occur on or after January 15, 2026. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, SAPU must determine the most appropriate
requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the
cultural item are considered a single request and not competing
requests. SAPU 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: November 17, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-22889 Filed 12-15-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 16, 2025.
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