[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 219 (Tuesday, November 13, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56374-56375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-24661]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0026666; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


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

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The University of California, Davis, 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 the University of California, Davis. 
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 the University of California, 
Davis at the address in this notice by December 13, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Megon Noble, NAGPRA Project Manager, University of 
California, Davis, 433 Mrak Hall, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, 
telephone (530) 752-8501, 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 the University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 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.

[[Page 56375]]

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    Sometime before 1904, 13 cultural items were removed from a 
cremation knoll on Mameluke Hill in El Dorado County, CA. A 
schoolteacher and her son removed the cultural items from the cremation 
knoll and gave them to Mr. C. Hart Merriam in 1904. In 1962, C. Hart 
Merriam's daughter sold the collections accumulated by her father to 
the University of California, Davis. The 13 unassociated funerary 
objects are 11 sets of trade beads, one set of barita beads, and one 
stone amulet.
    C. Hart Merriam noted that the cultural items show evidence of 
burning, and were collected from a cremation knoll. Cremation is the 
historically documented burial practice of Nisenan peoples. Merriam 
affiliated the cultural items with the Nisenan. Mameluke Hill is 
located in the historically documented aboriginal territory of the 
Nisenan, who are today represented by the Ione Band of Miwok Indians of 
California; Jackson Band of Miwuk Indians (previously listed as the 
Jackson Rancheria of Me-Wuk 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; and the Wilton Rancheria, California, hereafter referred to 
as ``The Tribes.'' The glass trade beads date to the historic period.

Determinations Made by the University of California, Davis

    Officials of the University of California, Davis have determined 
that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 13 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 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 claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Megon Noble, NAGPRA Project Manager, 
University of California, Davis, 433 Mrak Hall, One Shields Avenue, 
Davis, CA 95616, telephone (530) 752-8501, email [email protected], by 
December 13, 2018. After that date, if no additional claimants have 
come forward, transfer of control of the unassociated funerary objects 
to The Tribes may proceed.
    The University of California, Davis is responsible for notifying 
The Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: October 4, 2018.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2018-24661 Filed 11-9-18; 8:45 am]
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