[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 237 (Friday, December 9, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 89141-89142]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-29534]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-22482; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Fowler Museum at the University 
of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Fowler Museum at the University of California Los Angeles 
(UCLA) has completed an inventory of human remains and associated 
funerary objects, in consultation with the appropriate Indian tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations, and has determined that there is a 
cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects and present-day Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. 
Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request to the Fowler Museum 
at UCLA. If no additional requestors come forward, transfer of control 
of the human remains and associated funerary objects 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 
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to the Fowler Museum at UCLA at the address in 
this notice by January 9, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Wendy G. Teeter, Ph.D., Fowler Museum at UCLA, Box 951549, 
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1549, telephone (310) 825-1864, 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. 3003, of the completion of an inventory of human remains and 
associated funerary objects under the control of the Fowler Museum at 
UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from Ventura County, California.
    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 and associated funerary objects. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Fowler 
Museum at UCLA professional staff in consultation with representatives 
of Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez 
Reservation, California; and the following non-federally recognized 
Indian groups: Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribal Council; San Gabriel Band of 
Mission Indians; Traditional Council of Pimu (Ti'at Society); the 
Gabrielino/Tongva Indians of California Tribe; Gabrielino/Tongva 
Nation; Barbareno/Ventureno Band of Mission Indians; Fernande[ntilde]o 
Tataviam Band of Mission Indians; Barbareno Chumash Council; Coastal 
Band of the Chumash Nation; and Northern Chumash Tribe.

History and Description of the Remains and Associated Funerary Objects

    In 1961, 1969, and 1970, human remains representing, at minimum, 
one individual were removed from CA-VEN-137 in Ventura County, CA. 
These human remains were part of a surface collection made by Thomas 
Blackburn involving Chester King, Nelson Leonard, and Clay Singer 
during a field project that surveyed over 32 archeological sites. A 
small collection was formed and curated at UCLA upon completion of the 
survey. No date was identified for the site other than it was part of a 
prehistoric complex. A field identified large mammal limb bone 
collected from the site was later identified as an extremely burned 
human femur shaft fragment. No known individuals were identified. No 
associated funerary objects are identified.
    In 1978, human remains representing, at minimum, three individuals 
were removed from Lindero Canyon (CA-VEN-606) in Ventura County, CA. 
Collections from the site derive from a survey and excavation led by 
Dr. William Clewlow, Jr., during the North Ranch Inland Chumash 
research project. The second investigation was conducted the same year 
under the direction of Holly Love and Rheta Resnick. Excavations took 
place on land privately owned by the Prudential Insurance Company. The 
collections were curated at UCLA in 1979. The site has been dated to 
the Late Period, A.D. 1300-1650. Fragmentary human remains represent 
one adult of unknown sex and one infant of unknown sex. The last 
individual is likely a cremation; neither sex nor age could be 
determined. No known individuals were identified. The 17 associated 
funerary objects consist of two pieces and one bag of unmodified animal 
bone, eight pieces and one bag of stone flakes, one bag of charcoal 
fragments, one piece and one bag of shell fragments, and two ochre 
fragments.
    The sites detailed in this notice have been identified through 
consultation to be within the traditional territory of the Chumash. 
These locations are consistent with ethnographic and historic 
documentation.
    The Chumash territory, anthropologically defined first on the basis 
of linguistic similarities, and subsequently on broadly shared material 
and cultural traits, reaches from San Luis Obispo to Malibu on the 
coast, inland to the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley, to the 
edge of the San Fernando Valley, and includes the four Northern Channel 
Islands. The sites in this notice are located in Ventura County and 
fall within the geographical area identified as Chumash. Some 
consultants state that these areas were the responsibility of regional 
leaders, who were themselves organized into a pan-regional association 
of both political power and ceremonial knowledge. Further, these 
indigenous areas are identified by some consultants to be relational 
with clans, or associations of traditional practitioners of specific 
kinds of indigenous medicinal and ceremonial practices. Some 
consultants identified these clans as existing in the pre-contact 
period, and identified some as also existing in the present day. Other 
consultants do not recognize present-day geographical divisions to be 
related to clans of traditional practitioners. Ethnographic evidence 
suggests that the social and political organizations of the pre-contact 
Channel Islands were primarily at the village level, with a hereditary 
chief, in addition to many other specialists who wielded power.
    The associated funerary objects are consistent with funerary 
objects placed by groups ancestral to the present-day Chumash people. 
The material culture of those earlier groups living in the geographical 
areas mentioned above is characterized by archeologists as having 
passed through developmental stages over the past 10,000 years. Many 
local archeologists assert that the changes in the material culture 
reflect evolving ecological adaptations and related changes in social 
organization of the same populations, and do not represent

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population displacements or movements. The same range of artifact types 
and materials were used from the early pre-contact period until 
historic times. Native consultants explicitly state that population 
mixing, which did occur on a small scale, would not alter the 
continuity of the shared group identities of people associated with 
specific locales. Based on this evidence, continuity of occupation by 
the Chumash people can be traced for all sites listed in this notice.

Determinations Made by the Fowler Museum at UCLA

    Officials of the Fowler Museum at UCLA have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of 4 individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 17 objects described 
in this notice 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.
     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 associated funerary objects and Santa Ynez 
Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, 
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 
request transfer of control of these human remains and associated 
funerary objects should submit a written request with information in 
support of the request to Wendy G. Teeter, Ph.D., Fowler Museum at 
UCLA, Box 951549, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1549, telephone (310) 825-1864, 
email [email protected], by January 9, 2017. After that date, if no 
additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to Santa Ynez Band of 
Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California may 
proceed.
    The Fowler Museum is responsible for notifying the Santa Ynez Band 
of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: November 28, 2016.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2016-29534 Filed 12-8-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P