[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 117 (Tuesday, June 17, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Page 34318]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-13569]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
Notice of Inventory Completion: Raymond M. Alf Museum of
Paleontology, Claremont, 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. 3003, of the
completion of an inventory of human remains in the control of the
Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, Claremont, CA. The human remains
were removed from Kern County, CA.
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 Native
American human remains. The National Park Service is not responsible
for the determinations in this notice.
A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Raymond
M. Alf Museum of Paleontology professional staff and University of
California Los Angeles professional staff member Archeologist Gail
Kennedy, in consultation with representatives of the Santa Rosa Indian
Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California (Tachi Yokut Tribe).
In 1968-1969, human remains representing a minimum of one
individual were removed from Kern Valley, Bull Run Creek along the west
bank of the Kern River and directly west of the River Kern community,
or six miles north of Kernville, Kern County, CA, in an attempt to
protect the bones from erosion. No known individual was identified. No
associated funerary objects are present.
This site has been identified as a habitation site of the
Tubatulabal. The Tubatulabal were loosely organized into three discrete
bands called Pahkanapil, Palagewan, and Bankalachi (Smithsonian,
Handbook of North American Indians, Book 8, 1978). The Tubatulabal are
considered Kern River Indians, speak an Uto-Aztecan language, and live
in the Kern River/Lake Isabella area, which include the south fork
(Palagewan) and the lower Kern River below the south fork
(Tubatulabal). Their neighbors are the Kawaiisu and the Yokuts. The
Bankalachi, which were a few miles from the Palagewan, resided in
Yokuts territory. In 1857, the Kern River gold rush began in Palagewan
territory. During 1862, a few Tubatulabal joined the Owens Valley
Paiute in hostilities against the Whites, and about this time, a group
of Koso Indians settled in the Tubatulabal area, intermarrying with the
Kawaiisu. In 1863, American soldiers killed 35-40 Tubatulabal and
Palagewan men near Kernville. Between 1865 and 1875, the Tubatulabal
began to practice agriculture and in 1893, the majority of them and a
few Palagewan survivors were allotted land in South Fork and Kern
Valleys. From 1900 to 1972, many Tubatulabals moved to the Tule River
Indian Reservation, north of the Kern valley region. It is reasonably
believed that those that survived intermarried with the Yokut in the
Kern County area. Descendants of these Yokut are members of the
federally-recognized Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa
Rancheria, California (Tachi Yokut Tribe) and Tule River Indian Tribe
of the Tule River Reservation, California.
Officials of the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology have
determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001 (9-10), the human remains
described above represent the physical remains of one individual of
Native American ancestry. Officials of the Raymond M. Alf Museum of
Paleontology 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 Native American human remains and the Santa Rosa
Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California and Tule River
Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, California.
Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to
be culturally affiliated with the human remains should contact Don
Lofgren, Director, Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, 1175 West
Baseline Road, Claremont, CA 91711, telephone (909) 624-2798, before
July 17, 2008. Repatriation of the human remains to the Santa Rosa
Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California may proceed
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology is responsible for notifying
the Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California
and Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, California
that this notice has been published.
Dated: May 4, 2008
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. E8-13569 Filed 6-16-08; 8:45 am]
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