[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 136 (Tuesday, July 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 45914]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15099]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036182; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural 
History, Santa Barbara, 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 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 San Juan County, Utah.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or 
after August 17, 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, three individuals were 
removed from San Juan County, Utah. In 1970, these human remains were 
removed by Waldo George Abbott from a road construction site (likely 
Highway 95). That same year, Abbott donated them to the Santa Barbara 
Museum of Natural History, where he was Curator of Ornithology and 
Mammalogy. The human remains consist of the nearly complete skeleton of 
an adult male, and the skeletal remains of two infants. The remains of 
these individuals likely date to the Pueblo I Period (750-900 CE), 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 three individuals 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 Hopi Tribe of Arizona; Navajo Nation, Arizona, New Mexico, & 
Utah; Pueblo of Acoma, New Mexico; Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico; Pueblo 
of Tesuque, New Mexico; San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe of Arizona; Ute 
Mountain Ute Tribe; and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New 
Mexico.

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 August 17, 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: July 6, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-15099 Filed 7-17-23; 8:45 am]
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