[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 203 (Monday, October 23, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72785-72786]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23283]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036761; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: California State 
University, Sacramento, Sacramento, 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 California State University, Sacramento 
intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition 
of 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 Placer and Yuba Counties, CA.

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

ADDRESSES: Dr. Dianne Hyson, Dean of the College of Social Sciences and 
Interdisciplinary Studies, California State University, Sacramento, 
6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819, telephone (916) 278-6504, 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 
California State University, Sacramento. 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 California State University, Sacramento.

Description

    During the 1960s-1980's, California State University, Sacramento 
students and faculty surveyed and investigated sites along creeks and 
ravines in Placer County, CA, ahead of several development projects 
(CA-PLA-47, PLA-63, PLA-64, PLA-66, PLA-67, PLA-69, PLA-70, PLA-71, 
PLA-72, PLA-73, PLA-74, PLA-75, PLA-76, PLA-77, PLA-78, PLA-80, PLA-81, 
PLA-83, PLA-90, PLA-92, PLA-93, PLA-94, PLA-95, PLA-99, PLA-105, PLA-
106, PLA-107/H, PLA-225, PLA-271/H, PLA-663/H, and four sites without a 
designated name or trinomial (31-109, 31-60, 31-108, 31-78)). As a 
result, 13 cultural items were collected from several of the sites. The 
13 objects of cultural patrimony consist of the following individual 
lots: flaked stones; groundstones; unmodified stones; thermally-altered 
rocks; modified stones; modified shells; modified bones; historic 
materials; faunal remains; floral remains; baked clay objects; soil 
samples; and uncatalogued materials.
    At an unknown date, 10 cultural items were collected from CA-PLA-
292, PLA-293, and another, unknown location (31-62) by an individual 
who subsequently donated them to California

[[Page 72786]]

State University, Sacramento, most likely in the 1960s. The 10 objects 
of cultural patrimony consist of the following individual lots: flaked 
stones; groundstones; unmodified stones; modified stones; modified 
shells; faunal remains; floral remains; historic materials; soil 
samples; and uncatalogued materials.
    In the 1960s and 1970s, American River Junior College (ARJC) 
conducted investigations at several sites in Placer and Yuba Counties 
(CA-PLA-2907, CA-PLA-2908, possibly PLA-38, and CA-YUB-05), which 
resulted in the collection of 12 cultural items. In 1977, the 
collections from these sites were transferred to California State 
University, Sacramento along with other ARJC collections. The 12 
objects of cultural patrimony consist of the following individual lots: 
flaked stones; groundstones; modified bones; modified shells; modified 
stones; thermally-altered rocks; unmodified stones; baked clay objects; 
floral remains; faunal remains; historic materials; and uncatalogued 
materials.
    At an unknown date, one cultural item was collected from a quarry 
site near Bowman, CA, and was donated to California State University, 
Sacramento. The object of cultural patrimony is one lot consisting of 
uncatalogued materials.
    Sometime during the 1920s and 1930s, Anthony Zallio, a private 
collector, collected two cultural items from sites in Placer County, 
CA. In 1951, Zallio's collection was posthumously donated to the 
Department of Anthropology at Sacramento State College, CA (now 
California State University, Sacramento). The two objects of cultural 
patrimony are a flaked stone and a modified stone.
    In the 1970s, a cultural item was donated to the Anthropology 
Museum at California State University, Sacramento that was said to have 
been found on the North Fork of the American River, possibly near CA-
PLA-34. The one object of cultural patrimony is a steatite pipe.
    In the 1970s, cultural items were collected from an unknown 
location near Bowman, CA, and at an unknown date, they were donated to 
California State University, Sacramento. The five objects of cultural 
patrimony consist of the following individual lots: flaked stones; 
modified shells; faunal remains; historic materials; and uncatalogued 
materials.
    In 1990, one cultural item was collected at historic Virginiatown, 
in Placer County, CA, during a California State University, Sacramento-
sponsored field school. The object of cultural patrimony is one lot 
consisting of archaeologically recovered Native American objects.
    At an unknown date, two cultural items were removed from CA-PLA-36 
in Placer County, CA. The circumstances surrounding their recovery and 
curation at California State University, Sacramento are not known. The 
two objects of cultural patrimony are one lot consisting of flaked 
stones and one lot consisting of groundstones.
    At an unknown date, five cultural items were removed from CA-PLA-
2879, in Placer County, CA. The circumstances surrounding their 
recovery and curation at California State University, Sacramento are 
not known. The five objects of cultural patrimony consist of the 
following individual lots: worked shells; faunal remains; flaked 
stones; unmodified stones; and historic materials.
    At an unknown date, one cultural item was collected from an unknown 
site in Yuba County, CA, by Charles McKee. Subsequently, this item was 
donated to California State University, Sacramento by his estate. The 
object of cultural patrimony is a modified stone.

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, geographical, historical, kinship, linguistic, 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 California State University, Sacramento has 
determined that:
     The 53 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 United Auburn 
Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria of 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 November 22, 2023. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the California State University, Sacramento 
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. The California State 
University, Sacramento 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: October 11, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-23283 Filed 10-20-23; 8:45 am]
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