[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 188 (Friday, September 29, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 67356]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21384]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036671; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: U.S. Department of the Interior, 
National Park Service, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, Three 
Rivers, 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 U.S. Department of the Interior, 
National Park Service, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI) 
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 Tulare County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after October 30, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Clayton Jordan, Superintendent, Sequoia and Kings Canyon 
National Parks, 47050 Generals Highway, Three Rivers, CA 93271, 
telephone (559) 565-3101, 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 
Superintendent, SEKI. Additional information on the determinations in 
this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the 
inventory or related records held by SEKI.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, four individuals were 
removed from Tulare County, CA, in 1960 through archeological 
excavations undertaken at the Hospital Rock site by Jay von Werlholf 
from the College of the Sequoias. All materials collected from the site 
were held at the College of the Sequoias until 1961 when the human 
remains were transferred to the University of California, Berkeley and 
all other materials were returned to Sequoia National Park. The human 
remains held at the University of California, Berkeley, and their 
associated funerary objects held by the NPS, were repatriated in 1991. 
Additional human remains were discovered in the Berkeley collections 
and repatriated by SEKI in 2005. In 2022, human remains were identified 
in faunal materials from the Hospital Rock site. A review of the 
archeological and curatorial records also identified associated 
funerary objects. The 715 associated funerary objects are 180 pottery 
sherds, one baked clay fragment, one clay knob, 104 bone and shell 
beads, 50 awls, three bone needles, one decorated bone tube, 33 shell 
fragments, seven shell pendants, three pieces of worked antler and 
animal bone, one bone paddle, 10 animal bone fragments, two animal 
teeth, four fragments of wattle and daub, 45 steatite beads, five 
steatite pendant fragments, 41 steatite sherds, one arrow shaft 
straightener, three round stones, four rubbing stones, four stone 
paddles, 10 manos, 105 projectile points, three projectile point 
blanks, seven lithic cores, 25 stone knives, 35 scrapers, one obsidian 
drill, five pieces of worked stone, one blue glass bead, five yellow 
ochre fragments, and 15 red ochre fragments.

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: anthropological information, archeological information, 
historical information, oral tradition, and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, SEKI has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of four individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 715 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 Big Sandy Rancheria of Western 
Mono Indians of California; Cold Springs Rancheria of Mono Indians of 
California; Northfork Rancheria of Mono Indians of California; Picayune 
Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of California; Santa Rosa Indian 
Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California; Table Mountain 
Rancheria; Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, 
California; and the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne 
Rancheria of 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 October 30, 2023. 
If competing requests for repatriation are received, SEKI 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. SEKI is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the 
Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations 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, Sec.  
10.10, and Sec.  10.14.

    Dated: September 25, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-21384 Filed 9-28-23; 8:45 am]
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