[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 8 (Thursday, January 12, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2124-2125]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-00466]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035095; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


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

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the

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University of California, Riverside (UCR) intends to repatriate certain 
cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary 
objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural items were 
removed from Orange County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after February 13, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Megan Murphy, University of California, Riverside, 900 
University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92517-5900, telephone (951) 827-6349, 
email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is published as part of the 
National Park Service's administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA. 
The determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
University of California, Riverside. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations in this notice. Additional 
information on the determinations in this notice, including the results 
of consultation, can be found in the summary or related records held by 
the University of California, Riverside.

Description

    In 1933, while returning from a day at Laguna Beach, Howard Wilson 
and Ed Marriner, amateur artifact collectors, discovered the cranium of 
one Native American individual near Coast Highway in Orange County, 
where construction crews had reportedly uncovered additional human 
remains. The cranium, which is referred to colloquially as the ``Laguna 
Woman Skull,'' was subsequently studied at various institutions to 
determine the individual's archeological age. In addition to the 
cranium, a layer of Mytilus californianus shells was discovered in 
association with additional human bone fragments. One of these shells 
contained potential bone fragments in its hollows. In 1969, it was sent 
to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) radiocarbon dating 
laboratory for testing. In 2016, R.E. Taylor, the founder of the 
decommissioned UCR Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory, donated the UCR and 
UCLA laboratories' archives and residual samples to UCR, including this 
shell. A note found by UCR NAGPRA Staff on the original sample bag that 
accompanied the shell reads, ``UCLA-1233B, Mytilus californianus Conrad 
found in long bone of Laguna Man.'' The shell and bone fragments 
yielded a radiocarbon date of >14,800 BPE but this date has been 
heavily contested in the scientific literature. The one unassociated 
funerary object is a Mytilus californianus Conrad shell.
    In 1991, ahead of the construction of the Newport Coast Planned 
Community, site CA-ORA-340 was excavated along with 37 other sites by 
the ``Newport Coast Archaeological Project,'' under the direction of 
archeologist Hank Koerper. This site was located on a marine terrace 
overlooking Crystal Cove, in the Wishbone Hill tract of the planned 
community. During the excavation of CA-ORA-340, a burial containing the 
human remains of one adult and one infant was uncovered. Among the 
associated funerary objects were concentrations of olivella, haliotis, 
and mytilus shell beads. One of these beads, an orange Olivella shell 
bead with white spots, was sent to the UCR radiocarbon dating 
laboratory. In 2016, R.E. Taylor, the founder of the laboratory, 
donated the collections from the decommissioned laboratory to the UCR 
library, including this shell bead. Only in 2021, was the provenience 
of the bead identified, when UCR NAGPRA Staff were reviewing archival 
records associated with the collection. The one unassociated funerary 
object is a shell bead.
    UCR NAGPRA Program Staff consulted with a number of Tribes with 
dealings in Orange County including the Juane[ntilde]o Band of Mission 
Indians, Acjachemen Nation-Belardes, a non-federally recognized Tribe, 
who recognize this area as ancestral territory. The Pechanga Band of 
Indians (previously listed as Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians 
of the Pechanga Reservation, California), a federally recognized Tribe, 
has agreed to accept a transfer of these collections to facilitate 
repatriation.

Cultural Affiliation

    The cultural items in this notice are connected to one or more 
identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures. There is a 
relationship of shared group identity between the identifiable earlier 
groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures and one or more Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations. The following types of information were 
used to reasonably trace the relationship: archeological, geographical, 
historical, oral traditional, and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the University of California, Riverside has determined 
that:
     The two 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Pechanga Band 
of Indians (previously listed as Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission 
Indians of the Pechanga Reservation, California).

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items 
in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in 
ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation may be submitted by any lineal 
descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice who shows, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, that the requestor is a lineal descendant or a culturally 
affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
    Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice to a requestor 
may occur on or after February 13, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the University of California, Riverside must 
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. 
Requests for joint repatriation of the cultural items are considered a 
single request and not competing requests. The University of 
California, Riverside is responsible for sending a copy of this notice 
to the Indian Tribe identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.8, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: January 4, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-00466 Filed 1-11-23; 8:45 am]
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