[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 164 (Friday, August 24, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48675-48676]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-16798]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: Fort Worth Museum 
of Science and History, Fort Worth, TX

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 Fort Worth Museum 
of Science and History, Fort Worth, TX that meets 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 in 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 in this notice.
    In the early 1950s, cultural items were excavated from extended 
burials on private property at site CA-SJO-105 under the control of the 
Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California at 
Berkeley, Berkeley, CA. In 1986, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and 
History obtained funerary objects that were originally removed from 
this site. The cultural items are recorded as excavated from numbered 
burials; however, the human remains are not in the possession of the 
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. The 16 unassociated funerary 
objects are 2 Haliotis shell pendants, 4 obsidian knife or spear 
points, 1 serrated-edge obsidian point, 2 clam shell pendants or 
spoons, 1 red/black obsidian scraper, 3 chert scrapers, 2 obsidian 
arrow points, and 1 string of olivella shell beads. Four obsidian 
points also were listed on the original inventory, but are missing from 
collections and have not been included in this count.
    Site CA-SJO-105 is located between Stockton and Lodi, CA and within 
the historical territory of the Northern Valley Yokut. Descendants of 
the Northern and Southern Valley Yokut are members of the Santa Rosa 
Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California. The cultural 
items are consistent with those used by the Northern and Southern 
Valley Yokut. The Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa

[[Page 48676]]

Rancheria, California (Tachi Yokut Tribe) have requested the 
unassociated funerary objects described above for repatriation.
    Officials of the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History have 
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (3)(B), the 16 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 believed, by a preponderance of 
the evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a 
Native American individual. Officials of the Fort Worth Museum of 
Science and History 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 
Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Renee Tucker, Assistant Curator of History, Fort Worth Museum 
of Science and History, 1501 Montgomery Street, Fort Worth, TX 76107, 
telephone (817) 255-9325, before September 24, 2007. Repatriation of 
the unassociated funerary objects to the Santa Rosa Indian Community of 
the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California may proceed after that date if no 
additional claimants come forward.
    The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is responsible for 
notifying the Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, 
California that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 3, 2007.
    Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E7-16798 Filed 8-23-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-S