[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 3, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 400-401]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28924]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037169; 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 CA-SCR-12 and CA-SCR-7 Sandhill Bluff of 
Santa Cruz County, CA.

DATES: Disposition of the human remains and associated funerary objects 
in this notice may occur on or after February 2, 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, two individuals were 
removed from Santa Cruz County, CA, from the locales of CA-SCR-12 and 
CA-SCR-7. The CA-SCR-12 collection was excavated in 1986 by Stephen 
Dietz and includes burials and cultural remains. The CA-SCR-7 
collection from Sandhill Bluff was collected on March 18, 1974, and 
donated to SJSU; the skull was identified in the College of Science 
teaching collection in 2023. A separate collection from CA-SCR-12 
housed at the University of California Santa Cruz was returned in 2019 
to the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. The 21 boxes of associated funerary 
objects include faunal remains, shell, lithics, groundstone, and 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 of California. 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 for CA-SCR-12 and 9/11/2023 for CA-SCR-7), Unratified 
Treaty A ``Treaty at Camp Belt (May 13, 1851)'', Unratified Treaty B 
``Treaty at Camp Keyes (May 30, 1851)'', and Unratified Treaty N 
``Treaty at Camp Barbour (April 29, 1851)'' (Heizer 1972).

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes, San Jose State 
University has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 21 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 
Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; California 
Valley Miwok Tribe, California; Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk 
Indians of California; Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California; 
Jackson Band of Miwuk Indians; Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians 
of California; Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, 
California; Table Mountain Rancheria; and the Tule River Indian Tribe 
of the Tule River Reservation, 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 February 
2, 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 
10.11.


[[Page 401]]


    Dated: December 20, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-28924 Filed 1-2-24; 8:45 am]
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