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, Mesa Verde National Park, 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 23 cultural items have been requested for repatriation. The 23 unassociated funerary objects are three incised bone gaming pieces found in a grave along the Dolores River in Colorado donated prior to 1960; one corrugated jar removed from a grave in a mound 12 miles west of Cortez, CO at the head of a skeleton and donated in 1935; two projectile points found with a burial at Summit Ridge, CO in 1910 and donated in 1962; one black-on-white bowl associated with a burial west of Shiprock, NM and donated in 1968; one black-on-white bowl, one ladle, and one bird effigy vessel from an eroded burial in a cliff dwelling in Sand Canyon, CO and donated in 1970; two small feather textile fragments found in the Mesa Verde collections in 1995 without provenience; one jar with attached handles purchased by The University of Denver from a private individual in Denver, CO who had removed the jar in 1921 from an unknown location in Mesa Verde, CO while herding sheep near a grave; one unusually large black-on-white mug found 10 miles west and two miles north of Pleasant View, CO donated by a private individual in 1964; one piece of cotton cloth found around a body in a grave in an unknown location, but presumably from either SW Colorado or SE Utah and donated by a private individual in 1926; six pre-contact stone and shell bead necklaces restrung with modern thread recorded in the accession file as coming from burials from near Gallup, NM and near Flagstaff, AZ and donated in 1947; one carved glycimeris shell frog from a grave near Cottonwood Creek near Winslow, AZ donated in 1947; and one black-on-white jar laying on the surface with disturbed bones at an unknown cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde, Colorado and donated in 1960. None of the cultural items are known to have been treated with potentially hazardous substances.

Determinations

Mesa Verde National Park has determined that:

• The 23 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.

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 September 14, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, Mesa Verde National Park 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. Mesa Verde National Park 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.

91 FR 52346