[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 8 (Thursday, January 11, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Page 1941]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-00433]



[[Page 1941]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037218; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: University of California, 
Riverside, Riverside, 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 University of California, Riverside 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 Chatham County, GA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or 
after February 12, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Megan Murphy, University of California, Riverside, 900 
University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92517-5900, telephone (951) 827-6349, 
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 
University of California, Riverside. 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 University of California, Riverside.

Description

    Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed 
from Chatham County, GA. In 1983, a partially fossilized human jaw 
representing one Native American adult individual was removed from the 
Forest River in Savannah, Georgia by Bobby Schauber, a local bait 
shrimper, who reportedly found the jaw in his shrimping net after 
dragging the river bed. Schauber displayed the human remains in a 
display case at the Coffee Bluff Fishing Camp where it was noticed by 
members of an amateur archeological society who contacted assistant 
professor, Clark Larson, at Northern Illinois University. The jaw was 
subsequently studied at the Center for Study of Early Man, University 
of Maine under the direction of Robson Bonnichsen. In 1988, Dr. R.E. 
Taylor, director of the University of California, Riverside Radiocarbon 
Laboratory, obtained a sample of the individual for radiocarbon dating. 
The residual sample material was subsequently stored by Dr. Taylor at 
an off-campus storage facility and never reported to the UCR NAGPRA 
Program Staff. In February of 2022, the sample from the individual was 
discovered by NAGPRA Program Staff during a collections inventory. No 
associated funerary objects were found with the individual.

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: archeological information, 
geographical information, historical information, kinship, 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, the University of California, Riverside has determined 
that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual 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 Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Catawba Indian Nation; Eastern 
Band of Cherokee Indians; Kialegee Tribal Town; Miccosukee Tribe of 
Indians; Poarch Band of Creek Indians; Seminole Tribe of Florida; The 
Muscogee (Creek) Nation; The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; and the 
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town.

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 February 12, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the University of California, Riverside 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 University of 
California, Riverside 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, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: January 4, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-00433 Filed 1-10-24; 8:45 am]
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