[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 84 (Wednesday, May 3, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20625-20627]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-08869]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-23146; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los 
Angeles, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Fowler Museum at 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 no cultural affiliation between the human 
remains and associated funerary objects and any present-day Indian 
tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. 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 Indian tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in 
this notice may proceed.

DATES: 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 June 2, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Wendy G. Teeter, Ph.D., Fowler Museum at UCLA, Box 951549, 
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1549, telephone

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(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 multiple sites in Orange 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) and 
43 CFR 10.11(d). 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 the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, California (previously listed 
as the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the La Jolla 
Reservation); Pala Band of Mission Indians (previously listed as the 
Pala Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pala Reservation, 
California); Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pauma & Yuima 
Reservation, California; Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of 
the Pechanga Reservation, California; Rincon Band of Luiseno Mission 
Indians of the Rincon Reservation, California; San Manuel Band of 
Mission Indians, California (previously listed as the San Manuel Band 
of Serrano Mission Indians of the San Manuel Reservation); and Soboba 
Band of Luiseno Indians, California. In addition, the Fowler Museum at 
UCLA professional staff consulted with the Juaneno Band of Mission 
Indians, Acjachemen Nation, and the Traditional Council of Pimu, both 
non-federally recognized Indian groups.

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1978, human remains representing, at minimum, 50 individuals 
were removed from site CA-ORA-469C in Orange County, CA, by Marie 
Cottrell and the Archaeological Resource Management Corporation prior 
to the development of housing and curated at UCLA. The identification 
of discrete burials was difficult because the area was mechanically 
graded, destroying nearly the entire site and heavily disturbing the 
burials and their associated funerary objects. A total of 12 formal 
burials were identified along with a large number of fragmentary human 
remains. Based on discrete contexts and bone fits, the human remains 
represent 8 male and 3 female adults; 16 adults of indeterminate sex;16 
infants, and 7 sub-adults. No known individuals were identified. The 
319 associated funerary objects are 82 flakes and flaked tools; 4 
cobble tools; 1 fire-cracked rock; 18 stone fragments; 3 pottery 
sherds; 26 shell beads; 2 lots of burial soil; 61 fragments of animal 
bone; 2 lots of animal bone; 56 fragments of shell; 4 lots of shell; 59 
fragments of fossilized bone and shell; and 1 lot of fossilized bone 
and shell.
    At some unknown time, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual was removed from San Joaquin Hills in Orange County, CA. No 
provenience information was provided for the location. Archeological 
sites from the San Joaquin Hills date between BC 860-1800 A.D. The 
human remains consist of one human pelvis fragment representing an 
individual of indeterminate age and sex. No known individual was 
identified. The one associated funerary object is a deer long bone 
fragment. The human remains and associated funerary object assume the 
same lab number (1690).
    Consultation has identified site CA-ORA-469C and the San Joaquin 
Hills site to be within the traditional territories of the Acjachemen/
Juaneno and Tongva/Gabrielino people. Linguistic and ethnohistoric 
evidence shows that these Takic-speaking peoples moved into the area by 
at least 4,500 B.P. These groups have a common heritage, but began to 
diverge by the beginning of the Middle period. Analysis of historical 
records from missions in the Greater Los Angeles area shows that at the 
time of mission recruitment, in the 18th and 19th centuries, the 
occupants of the area were descended from the populations living in the 
area.
    Associated funerary objects from these sites are consistent with 
those of groups ancestral to the present-day Acjachemen/Juaneno and 
Tongva/Gabrielino people. The same range of artifact types and 
materials were used from the pre-contact period until historic times. 
Native consultants state that population mixing would not alter the 
continuity of the shared group identities of people associated with 
specific locales. Based on this evidence, continuity through time can 
be traced for these sites with present-day Acjachemen/Juaneno and 
Tongva/Gabrielino.
    At the time of the excavation and removal of these human remains 
and associated funerary objects, the land from which the remains and 
objects were removed was not the tribal land of any Indian tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization. In 2016, the Fowler Museum at UCLA 
consulted with Indian tribes who are recognized as aboriginal to the 
area from which these Native American human remains and associated 
funerary objects were removed. None of these Indian tribes agreed to 
accept control of the human remains and associated funerary objects. In 
October 2016, the Fowler Museum at UCLA agreed to transfer control of 
the human remains and associated funerary objects to the Pechanga Band 
of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pechanga Reservation, California.

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 51 individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 320 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), a relationship of shared 
group identity cannot be reasonably traced between the Native American 
human remains and associated funerary objects and any present-day 
Indian tribe.
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(2)(i), the disposition of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects may be to Pechanga Band 
of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pechanga Reservation, California.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    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 
June 2, 2017. After that date, if no additional requestors have come 
forward, transfer of control of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects to the Pechanga Band of Luiseno

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Mission Indians of the Pechanga Reservation, California, may proceed.
    The Fowler Museum at UCLA is responsible for notifying Pechanga 
Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pechanga Reservation, 
California, that this notice has been published.

    Dated: March 23, 2017.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2017-08869 Filed 5-2-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P