[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 40 (Wednesday, February 28, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14702-14703]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04092]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037478; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: University of 
California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, and the California Department of 
Parks and Recreation, 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 University of California, Riverside and 
the California Department of Parks and Recreation 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 San Luis Obispo, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after March 29, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Megan Murphy, University of California, Riverside, 900 
University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92517-5900, telephone (951) 827-6349, 
email [email protected] and Leslie Hartzell, NAGPRA Coordinator, at 
California State Parks, 715 P Street, Suite 13, Sacramento, CA 95814, 
telephone (415) 831-2700, 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 and the California Department of 
Parks and Recreation. 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 University 
of California, Riverside and the California Department of Parks and 
Recreation.

Description

    The two cultural items were removed from San Luis Obispo County, 
CA. In 2001, Terry Jones removed sea-snail shells for radiocarbon date 
calibration from archeological site CA-SLO-116 (San Simeon State Park). 
The site, which is under the legal control of the California Department 
of Parks and Recreation, consists of 19 recorded bedrock mortars and 
large shell midden deposits. The shell samples submitted to the UCR 
radiocarbon laboratory dated to 665  BP, 785  
BP, and 3910  BP. There are no known associated collections 
from this site held by CDPR at other locations.
    In 1981, R.O. Gibson removed shell fragments for radiocarbon date 
sampling from archeological site CA-SLO-978, Morro Bay Sandspit. The 
site, located in Montana de Oro State Park Los Osos, was originally 
recorded in 1969 as a shell mound or midden. Other noted cultural 
constituents included debitage, fire-affected, and additional nearby 
shell middens. There are no known associated collections from this site 
held by CDPR at other locations. The two lots of objects of cultural 
patrimony are two lots of shells.

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: tribal traditional 
knowledge, archeological information, geographical information, 
historical information, kinship, oral tradition, and expert opinion.

[[Page 14703]]

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 and the 
California Department of Parks and Recreation has determined that:
     The two lots of 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 Santa Ynez Band 
of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, 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 March 29, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, the University of California, Riverside and 
the California Department of Parks and Recreation 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 University of California, Riverside and the 
California Department of Parks and Recreation is responsible for 
sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations identified in this notice.
    This notice was submitted before the effective date of the revised 
regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 12, 
2024). As the notice conforms to the mandatory format of the Federal 
Register and includes the required information, the National Park 
Service is publishing this notice as submitted.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.

    Dated: February 20, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-04092 Filed 2-27-24; 8:45 am]
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