[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 116 (Friday, June 16, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39453-39454]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-12859]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036001; 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: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the California State University, Sacramento 
intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition 
of objects of cultural patrimony and a certain cultural item that meets 
the definition of an unassociated funerary object, and that have a 
cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian 
organizations in this notice. The cultural items were removed from 
Stanislaus County, Tuolumne County, and the Northern Sierra foothills, 
CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after July 17, 2023.

ADDRESSES: 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: 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 
California State University, Sacramento. 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 
California State University, Sacramento.

Description

    At unknown dates, 29 cultural items were removed from multiple 
locations in Stanislaus County, Tuolumne County, and the Northern 
Sierra foothills, CA. These items were removed from Tulloch Cave, 
Sonora, and Etnazum Cave in Tuolumne County; unknown locations near La 
Grange and along Hood Creek in Stanislaus County; and unknown locations 
in the Sierra foothills of Northern California. Two items from Sonora 
were donated to the Anthropology Museum at California State University, 
Sacramento in the 1970s. How or when the other 27 items came to 
California State University, Sacramento is unknown. The 28 objects of 
cultural patrimony consist of seed bead necklaces, flaked stones, 
groundstones, thermally altered rocks, faunal remains, and floral 
remains. The one unassociated funerary object is a shell ornament.

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: anthropological, 
archeological, geographical, historical, kinship, linguistic, oral, 
traditional, and expert opinion.

[[Page 39454]]

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the California State University, Sacramento has 
determined that:
     The one cultural item described above is 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 is 
believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed from 
a specific burial site of a Native American individual.
     The 28 cultural items described above have ongoing 
historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native 
American group or culture itself, rather than property owned by an 
individual.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Tuolumne Band 
of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria of 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 July 17, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, California State University, Sacramento 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. California State University, 
Sacramento 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: June 6, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-12859 Filed 6-15-23; 8:45 am]
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