[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 152 (Monday, August 8, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48175-48176]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-19994]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

 National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate a Cultural Item: California 
Department of Parks and Recreation, Sacramento, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The California Department of Parks and Recreation, in 
consultation with the appropriate Indian tribes, has determined that an 
item meets the definition of unassociated funerary object and 
repatriation to the Indian tribes stated below may occur if no 
additional claimants come forward. Representatives of any Indian tribe 
that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the unassociated 
funerary object may contact the California Department of Parks and 
Recreation.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the unassociated funerary object should 
contact the California Department of Parks and Recreation at the 
address below by September 7, 2011.

[[Page 48176]]


ADDRESSES: Rebecca Carruthers, NAGPRA Coordinator, California 
Department of Parks and Recreation, 1416 9th St., Room 902, Sacramento, 
CA 95814, telephone (916) 215-5018.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 a cultural item in the 
possession of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, 
Sacramento, CA, that meets the definition of unassociated funerary 
object 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 Native 
American cultural item. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Item

    At an unknown date, a cremation, representing one individual, and 
one stone bead were likely removed from Site CA-SAC-16, also known as 
the Bennett Mound, Sacramento County, CA. Subsequently, they became 
part of the collection at the California Department of Parks and 
Recreation. There is no specific excavation or donor information 
listed. However, a 1986 inventory of the CA-SAC-16 objects has a tag 
that reads: ``Remains of cremation burial from Bennett Mound, 
Sacramento Valley.'' Based on this record, it is reasonably believed 
that the cremation and object were removed from Site CA-SAC-16. 
Currently, the cremated individual is missing from the collection. 
Therefore, the stone bead now meets the definition of an unassociated 
funerary object.
    Site CA-SAC-16 has been excavated numerous times. The first 
documented excavation was by Anthony Zallio in 1923. In 1926 to 1927, 
Benjamin W. Hathaway excavated the site. Sacramento Junior College 
excavated from July to November 1933, and again in 1936 to 1937. Later 
excavations were conducted by Sacramento State College in 1953. Between 
1966 and 1971, the American River College excavated under the direction 
of Charles Gebhardt.
    Site CA-SAC-16 was occupied from the Middle Horizon (circa 1000 
B.C.) to historic contact. Archeologists believe that the Penutian-
speaking Maidu and Miwok are descended from what have been identified 
as the Windmiller people who occupied the Central Valley of California 
from 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. No lineal descendant has been 
identified. Geographic affiliation is consistent with the historically 
documented use of the area by the Nisenan (Southern Maidu) and the 
Plains Miwok. The determination that this collection could be 
affiliated with either the historic Nisenan or the Plains Miwok is 
based on the movement of both groups near the borders of what is now 
identified as their historic territories.

Determinations Made by the California Department of Parks and 
Recreation

    Officials of the California Department of Parks and Recreation have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B) the one cultural item 
described above is 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 is believed, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual.
     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 object and the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk 
Indians of California; Cortina Indian Rancheria of Wintun Indians of 
California; Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California; Shingle Springs 
Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), 
California; United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria of 
California; Wilton Rancheria, California; and Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, 
California (hereinafter referred to as ``The Tribes'').

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the unassociated funerary object should 
contact Rebecca Carruthers, NAGPRA Coordinator, California Department 
of Parks and Recreation, 1416 9th St., Room 902, Sacramento, CA 95814, 
telephone (916) 215-5018, before September 7, 2011. Repatriation of the 
unassociated funerary object to The Tribes may proceed after that date 
if no additional claimants come forward.
    The California Department of Parks and Recreation is responsible 
for notifying The Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 2, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-19994 Filed 8-5-11; 8:45 am]
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