Federal Register #2026-18976

Notice of Intended Repatriation of Native American Cultural Items and Human Remains

This notice from the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, details the intended repatriation of Native American cultural items and human remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). - Government Buyer: - National Park Service (Department of the Interior) - University of Texas at Austin, Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) - U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Tongass National Forest - Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma - Products/Items for Repatriation: - 42,138 cultural items from TARL, including: - 18,175 sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony (abraders, bifaces, decorated 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, wood) - 23,963 unassociated funerary objects (adobe, angular shatter, archaeomagnetrometry samples, burned clay, charcoal, float samples, plaster, soil samples, undecorated ceramics, unknown glass) - Human remains of 10 individuals with 9 associated funerary objects (mortuary pole, bentwood box fragments, blanket fragments, beads, metal, abalone shell, bird down, cordage, cedar bark) from Tongass National Forest - 2 baskets of cultural patrimony (TL2026.11.50 and 71.721) from Gilcrease Museum - Unique Requirements: - Repatriation is governed by NAGPRA - Items are affiliated with Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, notably Ysleta del Sur Pueblo - Requests for repatriation may be submitted by eligible parties - No commercial products or OEMs involved; focus is on cultural and historical items - Notable Details: - Large quantity and diversity of items - Multiple agencies and museums involved - Specific item descriptions and provenance provided

Description

The University of Texas at Austin, Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) intends to repatriate certain cultural items that are unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and/or objects of cultural patrimony. These items have a cultural affiliation with Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. The repatriation may occur on or after October 16, 2026. The items were collected in El Paso, Texas, at site 41EP25 and accessioned by TARL in 2004.

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