[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 139 (Friday, July 21, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 47164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15523]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036225; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: California State 
University, Chico, Chico, 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), California State University Chico (CSU 
Chico) intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects and that have a cultural 
affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in 
this notice. The cultural items were removed from Butte County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after August 21, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Dawn Rewolinski, California State University, Chico, 400 W 
1st Street, Chico, CA 95929, telephone (530) 898-3090, 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 CSU 
Chico. 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 CSU Chico.

Description

Accession 12

    In 1962, nine cultural items were removed from Guill Ranch Mound 
(CA-BUT-446), in Butte County, CA. The unassociated funerary objects 
were collected when the site was partially destroyed through gravel 
mining for the portion of Highway 99 that runs through Lower Bidwell 
Park. Dorothy Hill recorded the site and collected these cultural 
items. Although the site record states that one burial was discovered, 
CSU Chico neither has control of any human remains nor any knowledge of 
the whereabouts of any human remains from this site. The nine 
unassociated funerary objects are one modified stone, four projectile 
points, and four oversized stone tools.

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, historical, and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, CSU Chico has determined that:
     The nine cultural items described above 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 and 
are believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed 
from a specific burial site of a Native American individual.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Mechoopda 
Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria, 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 August 21, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, CSU Chico 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. CSU Chico 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: July 14, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-15523 Filed 7-20-23; 8:45 am]
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