[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 175 (Monday, September 10, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45655-45656]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-19529]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0026179; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Regional Office, Sacramento, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation 
(Reclamation), Mid-Pacific Regional Office, 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 Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Regional Office. If no additional 
requestors come forward, transfer of

[[Page 45656]]

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 Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Regional Office 
at the address in this notice by October 10, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Melanie Ryan, NAGPRA Specialist/Physical Anthropologist, 
Mid-Pacific Regional Office, Bureau of Reclamation, MP-153, 2800 
Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825, telephone (916) 978-5526, 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 U.S. Department of 
the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Regional Office, 
Sacramento, CA. The human remains and associated funerary objects were 
removed from Fresno 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). 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 and associated funerary 
objects was made by Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Regional Office 
professional staff in consultation with representatives of the Picayune 
Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of California; Santa Rosa Indian 
Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California; Table Mountain 
Rancheria (previously listed as the Table Mountain Rancheria of 
California); Tejon Indian Tribe; and Tule River Indian Tribe of the 
Tule River Reservation, California, hereafter referred to as ``The 
Tribes.''

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1951, human remains representing, at minimum, three individuals, 
were removed from Site CA-FRE-105, located near Firebaugh, within the 
current Firebaugh Wastewater of the Delta-Mendota Canal, Fresno County, 
CA. Site CA-FRE-105 was encountered at the bottom of a waste way at its 
juncture with the main canal. The ``material (was) scooped up from 7 
feet deep in wet clay, from an area that was approximately 200 yards in 
diameter''. The site record describes the site as ``clay soil 
containing human remains and artifacts.'' Human remains and artifacts 
were collected by Robert E. Greengo of the University of California, 
Berkeley, and acquired by the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, 
University of California, Berkeley, through University Appropriation in 
1951 (Accession UCAS-314). The human remains from Site CA-FRE-105 
consist of three partially complete Native American individuals, 
including one possible male adolescent (approximately 15-20 years) and 
two adults of indeterminate sex. No known individuals were identified. 
The three associated funerary objects are: one greywacke sandstone slab 
mortar fragment, one large obsidian flake and one unmodified faunal 
long bone. An additional associated funerary object, a large obsidian 
point, is currently missing from the collection.
    In 1952, human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals 
were removed from Site CA-FRE-106, Fresno County, CA, by M.A. Baumhoff 
of the University of California, Berkeley, and were acquired through 
University Appropriation in June 1952 (Accession UCAS-157). Museum 
records describe nearly complete remains of two individuals recovered 
from a vertically truncated midden site. Individual 1 is an adult 
female and Individual 2 is an adult male. Both burials were excavated 
and exhumed, and three additional burials were noted but left in situ. 
No known individuals were identified. The two associated funerary 
objects are one large, extensively-shaped greywacke sandstone bowl 
mortar and one unmodified deer rib bone.
    Geographical affiliation is consistent with the historically 
documented territory of the Northern Valley Yokut. Multiple lines of 
evidence including oral tradition, ethnographic, archeological, 
historic, and linguistic information demonstrate continuity and a 
shared group identity between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice and the Yokut tribes. No lineal descendant has 
been identified. The Tribes identify as Yokut, and are culturally 
affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary objects in 
this notice.

Determinations Made by the Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Regional Office

    Officials of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Regional Office, have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of five individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the five 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 The Tribes.

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 Melanie Ryan, NAGPRA Specialist/Physical 
Anthropologist, Mid-Pacific Regional Office, Bureau of Reclamation, MP-
153, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825, telephone (916) 978-5526, 
email [email protected], by October 10, 2018. After that date, if no 
additional requestors have come forward, transfer of control of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to The Tribes may 
proceed.
    The Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Regional Office is responsible for 
notifying The Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 3, 2018.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2018-19529 Filed 9-7-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4312-52-P