[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 242 (Tuesday, December 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87811-87812]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-27796]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037090; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: San Jose State University, San 
Jose, 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), San Jose State University (SJSU) has 
completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects 
and has determined that there is no cultural affiliation between the 
human remains and associated funerary objects and any federally 
recognized Indian Tribe. The human remains and associated funerary 
objects were removed from the Ryan Mound (CA-ALA-329) of Newark/
Fremont, Alameda County, CA.

DATES: Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice may occur on or after January 18, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Charlotte Sunseri, Ph.D., San Jose State University, One 
Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192-0113, telephone (408) 924-5713, 
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 San 
Jose State University. 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 San Jose State 
University.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, 377 individuals were 
removed from Alameda County, CA. The Ryan Mound collection was 
excavated by a team from San Jose State University from 1962-1968. The 
excavations recovered materials from three distinct strata, all of 
which contained burials and cultural remains. The CA-ALA-329 collection 
was split between SJSU and Stanford University in 1962; Stanford 
repatriated their holdings in 1989 to Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San 
Francisco Bay Area. The collection at SJSU was transferred in January 
2004 from the Biological Sciences Department to Anthropology Department 
and was covered in a culturally unidentifiable Native American 
inventory in 2006. The 102 boxes of associated funerary objects include 
groundstone (mortars, pestles), other artifacts (charmstones, lithics 
and tools, beads, pendants), faunal remains and shell, charcoal, or 
soil samples.

Aboriginal Land

    The human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice 
were removed from known geographic locations. These locations are the 
aboriginal lands of one or more Federally recognized Indian Tribes. 
These locations are also the aboriginal lands of the Ohlone/Costanoan 
Tribes recognized by the State. The following information was used to 
identify the aboriginal land: California Native American Heritage 
Commission Native American Contact List for implementing AB275 (dated: 
6/22/2021), Unratified Treaty E ``Treaty at Dent's and Valentine's 
Crossing (May 28, 1851)'' (Heizer 1972).

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate

[[Page 87812]]

Indian Tribes, San Jose State University has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 377 individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 102 boxes of 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.
     No relationship of shared group identity can be reasonably 
traced between the human remains and associated funerary objects and 
any Federally recognized Indian Tribe.
     The human remains and associated funerary objects 
described in this notice were removed from the aboriginal land of the 
Wilton Rancheria, California.

Requests for Disposition

    Written requests for disposition of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the 
Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES. Requests for disposition 
may be submitted by:
    1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes 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, or who shows that the requestor is an aboriginal land 
Indian Tribe.
    Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after January 
18, 2024. If competing requests for disposition are received, San Jose 
State University must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to 
disposition. Requests for joint disposition of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects are considered a single request and not 
competing requests. San Jose State University 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 and Sec.  
10.11.

    Dated: December 8, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-27796 Filed 12-18-23; 8:45 am]
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