[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 23 (Wednesday, February 4, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6130-6131]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02180]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-17401; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: California State 
University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: California State University, Sacramento, in consultation with 
the appropriate Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has 
determined that the cultural items listed in this notice meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or 
representatives of any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items 
should submit a written request to California State University, 
Sacramento. If no additional claimants come forward, transfer of 
control of the cultural items to the lineal descendants, Indian tribes, 
or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to California State University, 
Sacramento at the address in this notice by March 6, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Orn Bodvarsson, Dean of the College of Social Sciences and 
Interdisciplinary Studies, CSUS, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819-
6109, telephone (916) 278-4864, email [email protected].

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 cultural items under the 
control of California State University, Sacramento, 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 Native 
American cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    Sometime during the 1920s and 1930s, six unassociated funerary 
objects were removed from CA-SAC-026 (also known as Cory Mound/Joe 
Mound), located adjacent to the northern bank of the American River, 
approximately one half mile east of the Sacramento River, in west-
central Sacramento County, CA. The unassociated funerary objects were 
in the possession of Anthony Zallio, a private collector, who 
posthumously donated his collection in 1951 to the Department of 
Anthropology at Sacramento State College, CA (now California State 
University, Sacramento). The six unassociated funerary objects are one 
lot of charcoal, one modified bone, three Haliotis shell ornaments, and 
one shell bead.
    CA-SAC-026 is the location of Pujune, a Nisenan village that is 
well documented in the historic record due to its proximity to New 
Helvetia (Sutter's Fort), which resulted in high levels of interaction 
with pioneer John Sutter. It is known to have been an extensive and 
influential village when Sutter arrived in the area in the 1840s.
    Sometime during the 1920s and 1930s, seven unassociated funerary 
objects were removed from CA-SAC-029 (also known as Sama, King Brown, 
Roeder, and S-29), which is located approximately one half mile east of 
the Sacramento River and five miles south of the confluence of the 
American and Sacramento Rivers, in west-central Sacramento County, CA. 
The unassociated funerary objects were in the possession of Anthony 
Zallio, a private collector, who posthumously donated his collection in 
1951 to the Department of Anthropology at Sacramento State College, CA 
(now California State University, Sacramento). The seven unassociated 
funerary objects are one modified antler, one chert biface, one bone 
awl tip, three modified bone tools, and one lot of charred cordage. CA-
SAC-029 was occupied as early as the Middle Horizon with reoccupation 
occurring sometime during the Late Sutter period. The site is believed 
to be a Nisenan village known as Sama.
    Sometime during the 1920s and 1930s, one unassociated funerary 
object was removed from ``Rose Spring Mound,'' located in Roseville in 
Placer County, CA. The exact location is

[[Page 6131]]

currently unknown. The unassociated funerary object was in the 
possession of Anthony Zallio, a private collector, who posthumously 
donated his collection in 1951 to the Department of Anthropology at 
Sacramento State College, CA (now California State University, 
Sacramento). The unassociated funerary object is one projectile point. 
Although the exact site location for Rose Spring Mound in Placer 
County, CA, is unknown, the site is within the aboriginal territory of 
the Nisenan.
    Archeological evidence indicates that the lower Sacramento Valley 
and Delta regions were continuously occupied since at least the Early 
Horizon (5550-550 B.C.). Cultural changes indicated by artifact 
typologies and burial patterns, historical linguistic evidence, and 
biological evidence reveal that the populations in the region were not 
static, with both in situ cultural changes and migrations of outside 
populations into the area. Linguistic evidence suggests that ancestral-
Penutian speaking groups related to modern day Miwok, Nisenan, and 
Patwin groups occupied the region during the Middle (550 B.C.-A.D. 
1100) and Late (A.D. 1100-Historic) Horizons, with some admixing 
between these groups and Hokan-speaking groups that occupied the region 
at an earlier date. The genetic data suggests that the Penutians may 
have arrived later than what is suggested by the linguistics.
    Geographical data from ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources 
indicate that the site was most likely occupied by Nisenan-speaking 
groups at the beginning of the historic period, while Patwin-speakers 
occupied the valley west of the Sacramento River and Miwok-speakers 
resided south of the American River. Ethnographic data and expert 
testimony from Tribes support the high level of interaction between 
groups in the lower Sacramento Valley and Delta regions that crosscut 
linguistic boundaries. Historic population movements resulted in an 
increased level of shifting among populations, especially among 
populations who were impacted by disease, violence, and Euro-American 
activities relating to Sutter's Fort and later gold-rush activities.
    In summary, the ethnographic, historical, and geographical evidence 
indicate that the funerary objects listed above are most closely 
affiliated with contemporary descendants of the Nisenan with more 
distant ties to neighboring groups, such as Miwok, Patwin, and Yokut. 
The earlier cultural items from the Middle and Late Horizons share 
cultural relations with the Plains Miwok, Nisenan, and Yokut based on 
archeological, biological, and historical linguistic evidence.

Determinations Made by California State University, Sacramento

    Officials of the California State University, Sacramento have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 14 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.
     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 Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, 
Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California; and United Auburn 
Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria of California.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Orn Bodvarsson, Dean of the College of 
Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, CSUS, 6000 J Street, 
Sacramento, CA 95819-6109, telephone (916) 278-4864, email 
[email protected], by March 6, 2015. After that date, if no 
additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control of the 
unassociated funerary objects to the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok 
Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California and 
United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria of California 
may proceed.
    California State University, Sacramento is responsible for 
notifying the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs 
Rancheria (Verona Tract), California, and United Auburn Indian 
Community of the Auburn Rancheria of California that this notice has 
been published.

    Dated: December 29, 2014.
Melanie O'Brien,
Acting Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2015-02180 Filed 2-3-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P