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 BLM and Reclamation, 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

The Upper Colorado River Storage Act of 1956 authorized construction of the Navajo Dam and the creation of Navajo Reservoir on the San Juan River in northwest New Mexico and Southwestern Colorado. As a part of this act, the National Park Service, acting for the Bureau of Reclamation, contracted the School of American Research and the Museum of New Mexico to carry out salvage archaeology in the areas that would be affected by the creation of the reservoir. Beginning in 1956, field work began in 1956 on the Navajo Reservoir Project (Project #48.01a) and continued through 1963.

A total of 11 cultural items have been requested for repatriation. The 11 unassociated funerary objects are three lots of coprolites (sites LA 3023, LA 4055, and LA 4411 in San Juan County, NM), seven lots of botanical remains (sites LA 3398, LA 4411, and LA 114367 in Rio Arriba County, NM, and LA 3432, LA 3491, LA 4055, LA 4065 from San Juan County, NM) and one lot of ceramics (site LA 52255 in San Juan County, NM) discovered along the reservoir in 1985. The cultural items were removed from the Navajo Reservoir area of Rio Arriba and San Juan counties, New Mexico, and are in the custody of the Museum of New Mexico, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Arizona State University, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Tempe, Arizona. BLM and Reclamation acknowledge the deep and abiding connection Indian Tribes have and their affiliation with the Ancestors from the Navajo Reservoir area. This notice includes cultural items dating from the Los Pinos Phase (A.D. 1-400), Sambrito Phase (A.D. 400-700), Rosa Phase (A.D. 750-850), Piedra Phase (A.D. 800-1000), and/or Arboles Phase (A.D. 950-1050).

Determinations

The BLM and Reclamation have determined that:

• The 11 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.
• There is a connection between the cultural items described in this notice and the Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Jicarilla Apache Nation, New Mexico; Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico, & Utah; Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Cochiti, New Mexico; Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico; Pueblo of Nambe, New Mexico; Pueblo of Picuris, New Mexico; Pueblo of Pojoaque, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Felipe, New Mexico; Pueblo of San Ildefonso, New Mexico; Pueblo of Sandia, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Ana, New Mexico; Pueblo of Santa Clara, New Mexico; Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico; Pueblo of Tesuque, New Mexico; Pueblo of Zia, New Mexico; Santo Domingo Pueblo; Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ute Reservation, Colorado; Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation, Utah; Ute Mountain Ute Tribe; Ysleta del Sur Pueblo; 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 July 6, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the BLM and Reclamation 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 BLM and Reclamation are 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.

91 FR 33744