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 TARL 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 42,138 cultural items have been requested for repatriation.

Approximately 18,175 of these items have been identified as potential sacred objects/objects of cultural patrimony and consist of abraders, bifaces, decorated Native American ceramics, faunal bone, drills, glass quartz, ground stones, maize, metates, obsidian, ochre, pendants, plants, polishing stones, pollen samples, scrapers, shells, shell beads, turquoise, unifaces, untyped dart points, and wood.

Approximately 23,963 of these items have been identified as potential unassociated funerary objects and consist of adobe, angular shatter, archaeomagnetrometry samples, burned clay, charcoal, float samples, plaster, soil samples, undecorated Native American ceramics, and unknown glass.

The items were reportedly collected in El Paso, Texas, at site 41EP25 by the 1986 Texas Archeological Society field school led by Thomas O'Laughlin and accessioned by TARL in 2004. TARL records indicate no known hazardous substances.

Determinations

TARL has determined that:

• The 23,963 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.
• The 18,175 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).
• There is a connection between the cultural items described in this notice and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo.

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 October 16, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, TARL 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. TARL 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 ( printed page 58707) U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

91 FR 58706