[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 21, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17012-17013]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05728]


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

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035482; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural 
History, Santa Barbara, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History 
has completed an inventory of human remains and has determined that 
there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and Indian 
Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The human 
remains were removed from a location near Big Oak Flat in Tuolumne 
County, California.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or 
after April 20, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Luke Swetland, President and CEO, Santa Barbara Museum of 
Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, 
telephone (805) 682-4711, 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 
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. 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 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed 
from a location near Big Oak Flat in Tuolumne County, California. In 
2013, a box labeled ``Chumash Skull'' and containing a human cranium 
and mandible was discovered among the items donated by an estate to a 
thrift store in Ojai, California. The Ventura County Sheriff's 
Department released the cranial remains to Julie Tumamait-Stenslie, 
Barbare[ntilde]o/Venture[ntilde]o Band of Chumash Mission Indians, who 
in turn transferred them to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural 
History. Subsequently, an investigation into the thrift store donation 
by the Ventura County Coroner revealed that these human remains had 
been in the donor's family for over 100 years, they were removed from a 
location near Big Oak Flat in Tuolumne County, and they were not 
Chumash. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary 
objects are present.

Cultural Affiliation

    The human remains 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: geographical, kinship, 
biological, archeological, linguistic, folkloric, oral traditional, 
historical, and other information or expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has 
determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains described in this notice 
and the Bridgeport Indian Colony; Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule 
River Reservation, California; and the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians 
of the Tuolumne Rancheria of California.

[[Page 17013]]

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains 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 in this notice to a requestor may 
occur on or after April 20, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History 
must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. 
Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains are considered a 
single request and not competing requests. The Santa Barbara Museum of 
Natural History 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, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: March 15, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-05728 Filed 3-20-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P