[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 162 (Wednesday, August 23, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 57467]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-18134]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036435; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: San Francisco 
State University Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 
Program, San Francisco, 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 San Francisco State University NAGPRA 
Program intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects and objects of cultural 
patrimony and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes 
or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural items 
were removed from Humboldt County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after September 22, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Zay D. Latt, San Francisco State NAGPRA Program, 1600 
Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132, telephone (415) 405-3545, 
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 
San Francisco State NAGPRA Program. 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 
the San Francisco State NAGPRA Program.

Description

    Eight objects of cultural patrimony were donated to the Tregenza 
Museum at San Francisco State University in the 1960s and 1970s. When 
the Treganza Anthropology Museum closed in 2012, all the Native 
American items were transferred to the San Francisco State University 
NAGPRA Program. The objects of cultural patrimony are eight Wiyot 
baskets from the Northwest California Coast. They consist of two round 
bowl baskets and one twined eating bowl donated by Elsa Korbel in 1968; 
one twined gift basket, one twin with knob lid, one twined open gift 
basket, and one twined cooking bowl donated by M. Molarsky; and one 
twined gift basket donated by the San Mateo Historical Society.
    In 1966, 45 unassociated funerary objects were removed by Robert 
Ostrovsky and Robert Schenk from sites CA-HUM-207, CA-HUM-208, CA-HUM-
211, CA-HUM-213, CA-HUM-214, CA-HUM-215, CA-HUM-216, and CA-HUM-Butler 
Valley as part of archeological site documentation in an area along 
Butler Valley Reservoir, in Humboldt County, CA. These cultural items 
were stored in the San Francisco State College Anthropology Collection 
and subsequently became part of the archeological collection of the 
Treganza Anthropology Museum at San Francisco State University (TAM). 
Upon closure of TAM in 2012, the objects were transferred to the San 
Francisco State University NAGPRA program. The 45 unassociated funerary 
objects are one spatulate hammer stone, one possible metate fragment, 
two shell fragments, and three worked chert pieces from CA-HUM-207; one 
stone mano from CA-HUM-208; one hopper mortar pestle from CA-HUM-211; 
one small hammer stone, one hopper mortar, and one small milling stone 
from CA-HUM-213; one small round stone, nine chert pieces, one possible 
bowl mortar fragment, one small hammer stone, one small mano, and one 
mano-hammer stone from CA-HUM-214; three soapstone pieces, one grey 
chert scraper, and 11 chert scrapers from CA-HUM-215; one worked red 
chert and one red chert scrapper from CA-HUM-216; and two groundstones 
from CA-Hum-Butler Valley.

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, 
geographical, historical, and other relevant 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 San Francisco State NAGPRA Program has determined 
that:
     The 45 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.
     The eight 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 Bear River Band 
of the Rohnerville 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 September 22, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the San Francisco State NAGPRA Program must 
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. 
Requests for joint repatriation of cultural items are considered a 
single request and not competing requests. The San Francisco State 
NAGPRA Program 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: August 16, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-18134 Filed 8-22-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P