[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 138 (Thursday, July 22, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38758-38759]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-15565]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0032322; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: California 
Department of Transportation, Sacramento, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), 
assisted by the Fowler Museum at the University of California Los 
Angeles (UCLA) and the San Luis Obispo County Archaeological Society 
Research and Collections Facility (SLOCAS), 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 California Department of 
Transportation. 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 California Department of 
Transportation at the address in this notice by August 23, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah Allred, California Department of 
Transportation, P.O. Box 942874, MS 27, Sacramento, CA 94271, telephone 
(916) 956-5506, 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 California Department of Transportation, Sacramento, CA, 
and in the physical custody of the Fowler Museum at the University of 
California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, and the San Luis Obispo County 
Archaeological Society Research and Collections Facility, San Luis 
Obispo, 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.

History and Description of the Cultural Items

    In 1965 and 1966, a total of 2,589 unassociated funerary objects 
were removed from CA-SLO-175 in San Luis Obispo County, CA. David 
Abrams and Nelson Leonard, in association with the University of 
California Archeological Survey, began excavations when Caltrans sought 
to widen Highway 1, which would significantly impact this Middle-to-
Late Period site. The land was originally owned by the Hearst 
Corporation. Caltrans purchased the right-of-way in June 1966. All 
laboratory work was completed at UCLA. Abrams reported on the site and 
the excavations in the MA thesis he submitted to the University of 
California Davis.
    In March of 1973, UCLA sent the materials collected from CA-SLO-175 
to SLOCAS (then located at Cuesta College) for further study and 
analysis, with the exception of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects. Subsequently, additional materials associated with 
the site were found at UCLA, and in May 1978, they were sent to SLOCAS 
for permanent curation. On July 14, 2017, UCLA sent the human remains 
and associated funerary objects to SLOCAS to unite the entire 
collection for an inventory, and to look for missing and loaned 
artifacts with the assistance of Chumash community members. The 2,589 
unassociated funerary objects are composed of 2,463 objects present in 
the UCLA collections and 126 objects that are currently missing. The 
2,463 unassociated funerary objects are seven pieces and one bag of 
asphaltum, one bag of charcoal, 717 pieces and 77 bags of unmodified 
faunal bone, one modified shell, 18 pieces of modified bone, 11 awls, 
375 flakes, one etched stone, 367 scrapers, 179 cores, 34 choppers, 19 
anvils, 160 points, one arrow shaft straightener, seven stone balls, 33 
bifaces, 55 shell beads, three stone pendants and one bag of stone 
beads, one sharpening stone, 54 stone bowls, six burins, nine pieces of 
debitage, 14 drills, two fishhooks, two pieces of ochre, one quartz 
crystal, six perforators/picks, 18 pieces and five bags of unmodified 
shell, 104 knives, 35 grinding stones, 24 hammerstones, 61 manos/
pestles, 32 net weights, 10 pecked stones, six tarring pebbles, and 
five other stone tools. The California Department of Transportation 
continues to look for the missing 126 unassociated funerary objects, 
which are two unmodified animal bones, one mortar, two stone bowls, 
four hammerstones, 13 knives, three manos, one net weight, three 
pestles, 26 points, three tarring pebbles, two shell beads, 33 stone 
flakes, two shells with asphaltum, eight cores, three scrapers, one 
pick, one drill, 11 pieces of charcoal, three modified animal bones, 
three burins, and one chopper.
    Following consultation with representatives of the Santa Ynez Band 
of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California 
and three non-federally recognized Indian groups--the Barbare[ntilde]o/
Venture[ntilde]o Band of Mission Indians, the yak tityu tityu yak 
ti[lstrok]hini/Northern Chumash Tribe, and the Salinan Tribe of San 
Luis Obispo and Monterey Counties--(hereafter referred to as ``The 
Consulted Tribes and Groups''), the California Department of 
Transportation has determined that CA-SLO-175 lies within the 
traditional territory of the Chumash and Salinan people. This 
determination is based on geographical, ethnographic, historical, oral 
traditional, and archeological information.

Determinations Made by the California Department of Transportation

    Officials of the California Department of Transportation have 
determined that:

[[Page 38759]]

     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 2,589 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 Santa Ynez Band of Chumash 
Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California.

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 Sarah Allred, California Department of 
Transportation, P.O. Box 942874, MS 27, Sacramento, CA 94271-0001, 
telephone (916) 956-5506, email [email protected], by August 23, 
2021. After that date, if no additional claimants have come forward, 
transfer of control of the unassociated funerary objects to the Santa 
Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, 
California may proceed.
    The California Department of Transportation is responsible for 
notifying The Consulted Tribes and Groups that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: July 14, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-15565 Filed 7-21-21; 8:45 am]
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