[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 205 (Wednesday, October 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73373-73374]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23553]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036820; 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 Calaveras County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or 
after November 24, 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, 21 individuals were removed 
from Calaveras County, CA. In 1951, Phil Cummings Orr, archeologist and 
Curator of Paleontology and Anthropology at the Santa Barbara Museum of 
Natural History, removed these human remains during excavations he 
conducted at Moaning Cavern (CA-CAL-13) and Cave of Skulls (CA-CAL-29), 
near Vallecito, CA. 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, 
historic, and other information or expert

[[Page 73374]]

opinion, including Tribal traditional knowledge.

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 at minimum 21 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 California Valley Miwok Tribe, California; Chicken Ranch 
Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; Ione Band of Miwok Indians 
of 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 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 November 24, 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, Sec.  
10.10, and Sec.  10.14.

    Dated: October 18, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-23553 Filed 10-24-23; 8:45 am]
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