[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 174 (Tuesday, September 8, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55485-55486]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-19703]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0030757; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
Bureau of Reclamation, Interior Region 10: California--Great Basin, 
Sacramento, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 
Interior Region 10: California--Great Basin (Reclamation Region 10), 
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 Reclamation Region 10. 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 U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau 
of Reclamation, Interior Region 10--California--Great Basin, at the 
address in this notice by October 8, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Melanie Ryan, NAGPRA Specialist/Physical Anthropologist, 
Bureau of Reclamation, Interior Region 10: California--Great Basin, 
CGB-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, Interior Region 10: California--
Great Basin, Sacramento, CA, and currently housed at the Department of 
Anthropology Museum, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA. The 
human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Federal 
land in Napa County, CA managed by Reclamation Region 10.
    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 Region 10 professional staff in 
consultation with representatives of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, 
California (previously listed as Rumsey Indian Rancheria of Wintun 
Indians of California) conducted from 2017 to 2019.

History and Description of the Remains

    In 1977, the human remains of, at minimum, two individuals were 
removed from the Indian Hill Site (CA-NAP-433), located near the west 
shore of Lake Berryessa and northeast of Putah Bridge in Napa County, 
CA. In the 1950s, after the construction of Monticello Dam, the site 
was inundated with the infilling of Lake Berryessa. In 1976-77, the 
reservoir receded in response to severe drought, exposing the site. 
Reclamation responded by sponsoring salvage excavations by a University 
of California, Davis (UC Davis) field school under the direction of 
Professors Delbert L. True and Martin A. Baumhoff. In the fall of 1976, 
the field school completed a surface survey, and in the summer of 1977, 
it conducted excavations. Approximately three cubic meters were 
excavated from eight units, each measuring 1 meter by 1 meter. All 
material was excavated in arbitrary, 10-centimeter levels and passed 
through 1/8-inch mesh. The maximum depth of the units ranged from 10 to 
80 centimeters, with an average depth of 38 centimeters. During the 
excavations, no burials were documented, but 37 pieces of disassociated 
human bone were recovered and recorded. Following excavation, all the 
recovered materials were sent to the Department of Anthropology Museum, 
UC Davis.
    In 1995, UC Davis completed a NAGPRA inventory and a Notice of 
Inventory Completion (NIC) for CA-NAP-433 NAGPRA collections and 
submitted them to the National Park Service. Subsequent lands research 
confirmed Reclamation's ownership and control of the CA-NAP-433 
collection. On June 18, 2014, Ms. Megon Noble, at UC Davis, contacted 
Reclamation Region 10 to inform them that she was consulting with the 
Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, California, on a non-Reclamation collection 
and had informed the tribe about the CA-NAP-433 collection.
    Reclamation Region 10 initiated tribal consultation on the CA-NAP-
433 collection in July 2017. In 2019, Reclamation Region 10 conducted a 
physical inventory of the CA-NAP-433 collection. In doing so, 156 human 
remains fragments were identified. The fragmentary remains included the 
37 human skeletal fragments identified and recorded during the 
excavation of Units 8N/1E and 9N/1E, and an additional 119 human 
skeletal fragments from Units 8N-1E, 9N-1E, and 7N-E1, and ``Sector G'' 
that had been misidentified as faunal remains. No known individuals 
were identified. The 456 associated funerary objects are: 153 pieces of 
debitage, 145 culturally unmodified objects, 27 faunal bones, 26 
organic samples, 24 flake tools, 23 bifaces, 15 cores, 13 handstones, 
six projectile points, five choppers, four formed flake tools, three 
modified stones, two awls, two cobble tools, two milling slabs, one 
hammerstone, one mortar, one modified faunal bone, one fire-cracked 
rock, one piece of miscellaneous ground stone, and one piece of ochre.

Determinations Made by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of 
Reclamation, Interior Region 10: California--Great Basin

    Officials of the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of 
Reclamation, Interior Region 10: California--Great Basin have 
determined that:

[[Page 55486]]

     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice represent the physical remains of two individuals of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 456 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 Cachil 
DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community of the 
Colusa Rancheria, California; Kletsel Dehe Band of Wintun Indians 
(previously listed as Cortina Indian Rancheria and the Cortina Indian 
Rancheria of Wintun Indians of California); and the Yocha Dehe Wintun 
Nation, California (previously listed as Rumsey Indian Rancheria of 
Wintun Indians of California) (hereafter referred to as ``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, Bureau of Reclamation, Interior Region 10: California--
Great Basin, CGB-153, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA 95825, telephone 
(916) 978-5526, email [email protected], by October 8, 2020. 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 U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 
Interior Region 10: California--Great Basin, is responsible for 
notifying The Tribes that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 10, 2020.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2020-19703 Filed 9-4-20; 8:45 am]
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