[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 58 (Thursday, March 25, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15374-15375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-6644]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: San Diego 
Archaeological Center, San Diego, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3005, of the intent 
to repatriate cultural items in the possession of the San Diego 
Archaeological Center, San Diego, CA, that meet the definition of 
unassociated funerary objects under 25 U.S.C. 3001.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003 (d)(3). 
The determinations within this notice are the sole responsibility of 
the museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the 
cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible for the 
determinations within this notice.
    The 20 cultural items are 14 olivella shell beads, 3 natural quartz 
crystals, 1 ceramic pipe fragment, 1 rabbit bone bead fragment, and 1 
fragment of incised shell.
    The 20 cultural items objects were excavated from site CA-SDI-
12809, located near Otay Ranch, 4 miles east of Chula Vista, CA. Site 
CA-SDI-12809 was first excavated by archeologist Dr. Charlotte McGowan 
from Southwestern Community College, Chula Vista, CA, in 1971. It is 
reported that inhumations were discovered at that time and were 
repatriated to the Campo Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of the Campo 
Indian Reservation, California. In 1993, California Department of 
Transportation, District 11 contracted Brian F. Mooney & Associates to 
excavate the site for construction of State Route 125, part of the SR 
125-South Otay Valley Project. During the 1993 excavations, inhumations 
and artifacts were discovered at several locations. The archeology 
report states that the human remains were reinterred at that time 
``under the direction of a Native American observer.'' The artifacts 
from the 1993 collection were taken to the San Diego Archaeological 
Center on August 8, 2000. The unassociated funerary objects were 
discovered during the sorting and classifying of artifacts from CA-SDI-
12809.
    Archeological evidence, including artifacts typical of the late 
Prehistoric period (3500 B.P. to circa A.D. 1700) indicates that the 
site described above is Native American. Archeological and historical 
literature, and oral historical evidence presented during consultation, 
confirm that site CA-SDI-12809 is located within traditional and 
historical Kumeyaay territory. The site is thought to be Otai Village, 
a late Prehistoric-period Kumeyaay village abandoned during the 
Historic period. The cultural items described above are believed to be 
associated with known burials found at the site because of their 
proximity to the burials and their intensely burned condition. The 
cultural items are also typically associated with burial practices of 
the Kumeyaay.
    Officials of the San Diego Archaeological Center have determined 
that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the cultural items described 
above are reasonably believed to have been placed with or near 
individual human remains at the time of death or later as part of the 
death rite or ceremony and are

[[Page 15375]]

believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed from 
a specific burial site of a Native American individual. Officials of 
the San Diego Archaeological Center also have determined that, pursuant 
to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (2), there is a relationship of shared group identity 
that can be reasonably traced between the unassociated funerary objects 
and the Barona Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians of the 
Barona Reservation, California; Campo Band of Diegueno Mission Indians 
of the Campo Indian Reservation, California; Ewiiaapaayp Band of 
Kumeyaay Indians, California; Inaja Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of 
the Inaja and Cosmit Reservation, California; Jamul Indian Village of 
California; La Posta Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of the La Posta 
Indian Reservation, California; Manzanita Band of Diegueno Mission 
Indians of the Manzanita Reservation, California; Mesa Grande Band of 
Diegueno Mission Indians of the Mesa Grande Reservation, California; 
San Pasqual Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of California; Santa 
Ysabel Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of the Santa Ysabel 
Reservation, California; Sycuan Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of 
California; and Viejas (Baron Long) Group of Capitan Grande Band of 
Mission Indians of the Viejas Reservation, California.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Cindy Stankowski, Director, San Diego Archaeological Center, 
16666 San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido, CA 92027, before April 26, 
2004. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary objects to the Kumeyaay 
Cultural Repatriation Committee on behalf of the Barona Group of 
Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians of the Barona Reservation, 
California; Campo Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of the Campo Indian 
Reservation, California; Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians, 
California; Inaja Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of the Inaja and 
Cosmit Reservation, California; Jamul Indian Village of California; La 
Posta Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of the La Posta Indian 
Reservation, California; Manzanita Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of 
the Manzanita Reservation, California; Mesa Grande Band of Diegueno 
Mission Indians of the Mesa Grande Reservation, California; San Pasqual 
Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of California; Santa Ysabel Band of 
Diegueno Mission Indians of the Santa Ysabel Reservation, California; 
Sycuan Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of California; and Viejas 
(Baron Long) Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians of the 
Viejas Reservation, California may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    The San Diego Archaeological Center is responsible for notifying 
the Kumeyaay Cultural Repatriation Committee; Barona Group of Capitan 
Grande Band of Mission Indians of the Barona Reservation, California; 
Campo Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of the Campo Indian Reservation, 
California; Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians, California; Inaja 
Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of the Inaja and Cosmit Reservation, 
California; Jamul Indian Village of California; La Posta Band of 
Diegueno Mission Indians of the La Posta Indian Reservation, 
California; Manzanita Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of the Manzanita 
Reservation, California; Mesa Grande Band of Diegueno Mission Indians 
of the Mesa Grande Reservation, California; San Pasqual Band of 
Diegueno Mission Indians of California; Santa Ysabel Band of Diegueno 
Mission Indians of the Santa Ysabel Reservation, California; Sycuan 
Band of Diegueno Mission Indians of California; and Viejas (Baron Long) 
Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians of the Viejas 
Reservation, California that this notice has been published.

    Dated: January 28, 2004.
John Robbins,
Assistant Director, Cultural Resources.
[FR Doc. 04-6644 Filed 3-24-04; 8:45 am]
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