[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 126 (Tuesday, July 6, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35529-35530]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-14313]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0032222; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Spurlock Museum, 
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Spurlock Museum, 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

[[Page 35530]]

identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items 
should submit a written request to the Spurlock Museum. 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 Spurlock Museum at the 
address in this notice by August 5, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Krystiana Krupa, NAGPRA Program 
Officer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 412 Swanlund 
Administration Building, 601 E John Street, MC-304, Champaign, IL 
61822, telephone (217) 244-2587, 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 Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, Urbana, IL, 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.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    On an unknown date, 664 cultural items were removed from the San 
Joaquin Valley in California. On July 17, 1926 they were donated to the 
Museum of Natural History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign by Elmer J. Dawson of Lodi, CA. In 1998, they were 
transferred to the World Heritage Museum at the University of Illinois 
at Urbana-Champaign, which was renamed the Spurlock Museum in 2000. The 
664 unassociated funerary objects are both cut and natural shell beads 
and pendants. Most of the shell is unidentifiable except for a few 
beads of abalone (family Halioidae) and one marine mussel (family 
Mytilidae). Both shells are consistent with the types found at 
archeological sites near the California shore.
    Museum records clearly indicate that the beads and pendants were 
taken from graves in the San Joaquin Valley. No extant Museum records 
associate the beads and pendants with human remains. The Santa Rosa 
Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California provided the 
museum with maps and written ethnographic, archeological, linguistic, 
and geographical information about the Yokuts and their inter-
relationships with surrounding communities in the territory where the 
unassociated funerary objects were discovered including the Buena Vista 
Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California and the Ione Band of Miwok 
Indians of California.

Determinations Made by the Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois at 
Urbana-Champaign

    Officials of the Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 664 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 Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk 
Indians of California; Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California; and 
the Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, 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 claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Krystiana Krupa, NAGPRA Program Officer, 
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 412 Swanlund Administration 
Building, 601 E John Street, MC-304, Champaign, IL 61822, telephone 
(217) 244-2587, email [email protected], by August 5, 2021. After 
that date, if no additional claimants have come forward, transfer of 
control of the unassociated funerary objects to The Tribes may proceed.
    The Spurlock Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is 
responsible for notifying The Tribes that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: June 28, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-14313 Filed 7-2-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P