[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 15, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14047-14048]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5883]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Intent to Repatriate Cultural Items: California 
Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Sacramento, CA and California 
State University, Sacramento, 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 control of the California 
Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Sacramento, CA, and in the 
possession of the California State University, Sacramento, 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 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 1970, unassociated funerary objects were removed from CA-SJO-91 
on private property, in San Joaquin County, CA, during a salvage 
excavation project. Faculty and students from what was then Sacramento 
State College (now California State University, Sacramento) were 
brought in by the California Division of Highways (now California 
Department of Transportation [Caltrans]) to conduct salvage 
excavations. The location of the associated human remains is unknown,

[[Page 14048]]

however, other human remains and associated funerary objects also 
removed from this site are described in a Notice of Inventory 
Completion. The 393 unassociated funerary objects are 384 beads, 2 
bifaces, 1 charmstone fragment, 4 round stones, 1 ornament and 1 quartz 
rock. There are an additional 30 missing unassociated funerary objects 
(30 beads).
    Multiple lines of evidence were used to determine the cultural 
affiliation of the CA-SJO-91 collection. Archeological evidence 
indicates that the site was occupied from the Early Horizon through the 
Late Horizon. Most of the burials were in two cemeteries that were 
located 60 meters apart. Other burials were located between the two 
cemeteries or are of uncertain horizontal provenience due to 
construction activities. Cemetery I was radiometrically dated to 
between 184590 and 2985160 years B.P. The 
burial patterns and artifact types in Cemetery I correspond to a 
transitional time period between the Early Horizon and Middle Horizon 
time periods. Cemetery II was not radiometrically dated. Based on mode 
of interment and artifact types, Cemetery II burials date slightly 
earlier to the Early Horizon, although there are similarities in 
constituents between the two cemeteries. A Late Horizon component (1500 
B.P. to European contact) at CA-SJO-91 was essentially removed by 
construction activities before salvage excavations began.
    Biological, archeological, and linguistic evidence indicate that 
population movement occurred between the Early and Middle Horizon in 
the French Camp Slough area. It may be that the individuals buried in 
the Early Horizon Cemetery II represent an earlier, Utian speaking 
people (linguistic evidence supports a relationship of shared group 
identity between early Utian speaking peoples and contemporary Miwok 
tribes), while the individuals in the Middle Horizon Cemetery I may 
represent a more recent pre-Yokut speaking people. Historical and 
geographical lines of evidence indicate that CA-SJO-91 lies on the 
border of the traditional territory of the Plains Miwok and the 
Northern Valley Yokuts. At the time of first contact with Spanish 
missionaries in the early 19th century, the area is thought to have 
been occupied by the Passasime, a Northern Valley Yokuts people who 
were also related to the Plains Miwok. Oral and documentary evidence 
provided by representatives of Indian tribes during consultation 
demonstrates an inter-relationship between Northern Valley Yokuts and 
Plains Miwok tribes.
    Officials of Caltrans and California State University, Sacramento, 
have determined, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), that the 393 
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 Caltrans and 
California State University, Sacramento, also have determined, pursuant 
to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), that there is a relationship of shared group 
identity that can be reasonably traced between the unassociated 
funerary objects and the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of 
California; California Valley Miwok Tribe, California; Chicken Ranch 
Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; Ione Band of Miwok Indians 
of California; Jackson Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; 
Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians of California; Santa Rosa 
Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California (also known as 
the Tachi Yokut Tribe); Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle 
Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California; Table Mountain Rancheria 
of California; Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, 
California; Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria 
of California; United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria 
of California; and Wilton Rancheria, California, as well as the non-
Federally recognized Indian groups: The Southern Sierra Miwoks of 
California and Northern Valley Yokuts.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary objects should 
contact Tina Biorn, Caltrans, P.O. Box 942874 (M.S. 27), Sacramento, CA 
94274-0001, telephone (916) 653-0013, or Charles Gossett, Dean of the 
College of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, California 
State University, Sacramento, CA, 95819-6109, telephone (916) 278-6504, 
before April 14, 2011. Repatriation of the unassociated funerary 
objects to the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; 
California Valley Miwok Tribe, California; Chicken Ranch Rancheria of 
Me-Wuk Indians of California; Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California; 
Jackson Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; Picayune Rancheria 
of the Chukchansi Indians of California; Santa Rosa Indian Community of 
the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California (also known as the Tachi Yokut 
Tribe); Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs 
Rancheria (Verona Tract), California; Table Mountain Rancheria of 
California; Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, 
California; Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria 
of California; United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria 
of California; and/or Wilton Rancheria, California, may proceed after 
that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    California State University, Sacramento. is responsible for 
notifying the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; 
California Valley Miwok Tribe, California; Chicken Ranch Rancheria of 
Me-Wuk Indians of California; Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California; 
Jackson Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; Picayune Rancheria 
of the Chukchansi Indians of California; Santa Rosa Indian Community of 
the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California (also known as the Tachi Yokut 
Tribe); Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs 
Rancheria (Verona Tract), California; Table Mountain Rancheria of 
California; Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, 
California; Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria 
of California; United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria 
of California; and Wilton Rancheria, California, as well as the non-
federally recognized Indian groups: The Southern Sierra Miwoks of 
California, Northern Valley Yokuts, and Tubatulabals of Kern Valley, 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: March 9, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-5883 Filed 3-14-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P