[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 184 (Monday, September 27, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53344-53345]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-20914]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0032656; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


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

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: California State University, Sacramento 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 State University, 
Sacramento. 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

[[Page 53345]]

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 State University, Sacramento at the address in 
this notice by October 27, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Dianne Hyson, Dean of the College 
of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, California State 
University, Sacramento, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819, telephone 
(916) 278-6504, 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 State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, 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

    On March 15, 2011, unassociated funerary objects from site CA-SAC-
16 in Sacramento County, CA, were listed in a Notice of Intent to 
Repatriate published in the Federal Register (76 FR 14049-14050, March 
15, 2011). Subsequently, these unassociated funerary objects were 
repatriated to the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle 
Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California.
    Following repatriation of the objects listed in the 2011 notice, 
290 additional unassociated funerary objects were found in the Anthony 
Zallio collection. Zallio, a local amateur archeologist who collected 
in the area during the 1920-30s, donated his collection to California 
State University, Sacramento. The 290 unassociated funerary objects are 
269 shell beads, four shell ornaments, and 17 projectile points.
    Following repatriation of the objects listed in the 2011 notice, 
three additional unassociated funerary objects were found among the 
materials recovered during the 1953 Sacramento State College 
excavations directed by Dr. Richard Reeve. The three unassociated 
funerary objects are three shell beads.
    Following repatriation of the objects listed in the 2011 notice, 
two additional unassociated funerary objects were found among the 
materials recovered during the 1960s American River College excavations 
directed by Charles Gebhardt. This collection was transferred from 
American River College to California State University Sacramento at an 
unknown date. The two unassociated funerary objects are one worked 
shell with ochre and one modified bone.
    Following repatriation of the objects listed in the 2011 notice, an 
additional 98 unassociated funerary objects were found among the 
materials recovered during the 1971 Sacramento State College 
excavations led by Ann Peak. The 98 unassociated funerary objects are 
89 vertebrate remains, one shell bead, one invertebrate remain, one 
groundstone fragment, one thermally altered rock, one lot of charcoal, 
one obsidian projectile point, one modified bone, and two pieces of 
baked clay.
    Temporally diagnostic artifacts recovered from CA-SAC-16 indicate 
that the site was used from the Middle Horizon until the early Historic 
Period. Linguistic evidence suggests that ancestral-Penutian speaking 
groups related to modern day Miwok, Nisenan, and Patwin groups occupied 
the region during the Middle (550 B.C.-A.D. 1100) and Late (A.D. 1100-
Historic) Horizons. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources indicate 
that the site was most likely historically occupied by Nisenan-speaking 
groups. In summary, officials of California State University, 
Sacramento reasonably believe that the ethnographic, historical, and 
geographical evidence indicates that the historic burials and cultural 
items recovered from Site CA-SAC-16 are most closely affiliated with 
contemporary descendants of the Nisenan and are more distantly related 
to neighboring groups, such as the Plains Miwok and Patwin.

Determinations Made by California State University, Sacramento

    Officials of the California State University, Sacramento have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 393 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 Shingle Springs Band of Miwok 
Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), 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 Dr. Dianne Hyson, California State 
University, Sacramento, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819, telephone 
(916) 278-6504, email [email protected], by October 27, 2021. After that 
date, if no additional requestors have come forward, transfer of 
control of the unassociated funerary objects to the Shingle Springs 
Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), 
California may proceed.
    California State University, Sacramento is responsible for 
notifying the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs 
Rancheria (Verona Tract), California that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: September 21, 2021.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2021-20914 Filed 9-24-21; 8:45 am]
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