[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 37 (Friday, February 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11935-11936]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03817]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035387; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: California Department of Parks 
and Recreation, Sacramento, 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 California Department of Parks and 
Recreation has completed an inventory of human remains and associated 
funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural 
affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects 
and Indian

[[Page 11936]]

Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The human 
remains and associated funerary objects were removed from Los Angeles 
County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after March 27, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Leslie L. Hartzell, NAGPRA Coordinator, California 
Department of Parks and Recreation, P.O. Box 942896, Sacramento, CA 
94296-0001, telephone (916) 425-8016, 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 
California Department of Parks and Recreation. 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 inventory or related 
records held by the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

Description

    In 1954, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual 
were removed from CA-LAN-192, the Lovejoy Springs site, in Los Angeles 
County, CA, by the Archaeological Survey Association of Southern 
California, a local avocational society. Under the direction of 
archeologist Charles Rozaire, cultural materials were collected from 
the surface and from four shallow, 5-by-5-foot units excavated on the 
southern side of the site. The collection was obtained by the Antelope 
Valley Indian Museum (AVIM) sometime prior to its incorporation into 
the California State Park system in 1979. From that year onward, the 
collection has been in the possession of the AVIM. No known individual 
was identified.
    In 1989, human remains representing, at minimum, one individual 
were removed from CA-LAN-192, the Lovejoy Springs site, in Los Angeles 
County, CA by an archeological field class from the Cerro Coso College 
campus at Edwards Air Force Base. The field class excavated seven 1-by-
1-meter units under the direction of archeologist Bruce Love. In 2017, 
Love donated the collection from this site to the AVIM. Later that 
year, while investigating the faunal assemblage from this collection, 
Love identified human remains consisting of one burned phalange and one 
highly burned human bone fragment. No known individual was identified. 
The 258 associated funerary objects identified in the collection are 
one bone bead, one botanical sample, one groundstone fragment, one lot 
of charcoal, one manuport, one possible granitic biface, one quartz 
projectile point fragment, one schist mortar bowl fragment, two lots of 
fire-altered rock, two ceramic fragments, two mano fragments, two 
schist metate fragments, four flaked stone biface, four flake tools, 
six lithic cores, nine lots of groundstone fragments, 10 lots of shell 
fragments, 11 edge-modified flakes, 41 lots of faunal bone, 18 Olivella 
beads, and 139 lots of flaked stone.
    According to Serrano-speaking elder Santos Manuel of the San Manuel 
Band of Mission Indians, and Spanish explorers, including Father 
Francisco Garces, who passed through the Antelope Valley in the 1770s, 
the communities on the southeast side of the Antelope Valley were 
Serrano-speaking and at the time of Spanish contact, were tied into the 
Serrano social system. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians, California, 
and the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation (Previously listed as San 
Manuel Band of Mission Indians, California) are present-day Indian 
Tribes who identify themselves culturally as Serrano peoples.

Cultural Affiliation

    The human remains and associated funerary objects 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: anthropological, archeological, geographical, historical, 
oral traditional, expert opinion, and other relevant information.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the California Department of Parks and Recreation has 
determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 258 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects described in this notice and the Morongo Band of Mission 
Indians, California, and the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation 
(Previously listed as San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, California).

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for repatriation 
may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations identified in this notice.
    2. 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 human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after March 27, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the California 
Department of Parks and Recreation must determine the most appropriate 
requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects are considered a single 
request and not competing requests. The California Department of Parks 
and Recreation is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the 
Indian Tribes identified in this notice.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, Sec.  
10.10, and Sec.  10.14.

    Dated: February 15, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-03817 Filed 2-23-23; 8:45 am]
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