[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 129 (Friday, July 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43389-43390]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14382]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036126; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: 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 University of California, Riverside 
(UCR) 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 Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The 
human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from 
Riverside in Riverside County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after August 7, 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 inventory or related records held 
by the University of California, Riverside.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed 
from Riverside County, California. In 1973, the cremated remains 
belonging to a Native American individual were removed from a 
construction site in

[[Page 43390]]

Indio by Thomas King. (UCR NAGPRA Repatriation Coordinator Megan Murphy 
contacted King, but he did not remember the excavation. King suggested 
that the excavation might have been an unplanned salvage project 
requested by an Indian Tribe--perhaps the Torres Martinez Desert 
Cahuilla Indians, California--when the Tribe heard that a cremation had 
been disturbed by nearby construction.) Markings on the bags from the 
excavation indicate that this cremation was removed from ``48th + 
Jefferson--Indio,'' which UCR NAGPRA Program Staff believe connotes the 
crossing of Avenue 48 and Jefferson Street in Indio. The site 
identification, ``CV-126,'' is consistent with the system used by the 
UCR Archaeological Research Unit in 1970s for work in the Coachella 
Valley. The collection is identified as accession #47 in the UCR 
Archaeological Curation Unit. The four lots of associated funerary 
objects are one lot consisting of shells, one lot consisting of 
charcoal, one lot consisting of soil and sand, and one lot consisting 
of geological materials.
    Human remains representing, at minimum, two individuals were 
removed from Riverside County, California. In 1972, the cremated human 
remains belonging to two Native American juveniles, together with 
associated funerary objects, were removed from archeological site CA-
RIV-273 (CV-139) during an investigation by the UCR Archaeological 
Research Unit led by Phillip Wilke. This site was reported to have been 
located near the historic village of Toro, to which many living members 
of the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, California can trace 
direct ancestry. Tribal members of the Torres-Martinez reservation had 
reportedly been long aware of a surface scatter of objects that they 
identified as funerary in nature. According to ethnographic accounts 
and archeological evidence, the burials likely date to the early 19th 
century. Although the human remains were reportedly reburied by the 
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in 1990, Wilke and the UCR 
Anthropology Department did not transfer the associated funerary 
objects, and they remained at UCR. The 1,922 associated funerary 
objects are 43 bobcat phalanges, three animal bone beads, one ceramic 
spindle whorl, 1,276 ceramic sherds, one clay bead, one piece of 
fabric, two samples of floral material, three pieces of cordage, one 
fiber basketry fragment, two fiber carrying net fragments, 35 glass 
seed beads, 20 fire-cracked stones, eight flaked stone tools, two 
ground stone tools, one steatite arrow shaft straightener, one stone 
bead, four metal objects, two lots consisting of charred seeds, two 
faunal elements, one sandal, 512 Olivella shell beads, and one 
reconstructed clay olla.

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: archeological, geographical, historical, kinship, 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 human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
     The 1,926 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 Torres Martinez Desert 
Cahuilla 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 August 7, 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 human 
remains and associated funerary objects 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 10.9, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: June 28, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-14382 Filed 7-6-23; 8:45 am]
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