[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 40 (Wednesday, February 28, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14716-14717]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04093]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037479; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: 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 
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 and Santa Barbara, 
CA.

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

ADDRESSES: Megan Murphy, the 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 summary or related records held by 
the University of California, Riverside.

Description

    The six cultural items were removed from San Luis Obispo County, 
CA. In 1981, R.O. Gibson removed marine shells (Tivela sp, Mytilus sp, 
Tegla sp, and chiton) from archeological site CA-SLO-99, a site located 
on the sea coast approximately 0.6 miles east of the south end of Shell 
Beach. The site consisted of a shell midden with at least one bedrock 
mortar.
    In 1981, R.O. Gibson removed shell fragments from a midden feature 
at archeological site CA-SLO-459, the Harrigan Site, which is a well-
known site for the Chumash. The site was on private property near Shell 
Beach owned by a Mr. Harrigan in 1969, hence the name ``Harrigan 
Site''. There are multiple reports of burials at the site being 
previously disturbed by sewer workers. In 1984, Madonna Construction 
under contract of Pismo City disturbed a Chumash burial and sent two 
skeletal elements to Dr. Phil Walker at UCSB. Dr. Walker wrote back 
noting that the coroner should have come to the site and reported to 
the Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC); the coroner reportedly 
refused to come. Dr. Walker urged the construction company to ask the 
NAHC to have the Attorney General corroborate. Walker went on to note 
that CA-SLO-459 is a well-known cemetery and that intentional 
disturbance is illegal. He cc'ed the Santa Ynez Elders Council and 
United Chumash Council on his response.
    In 1978, R.O. Gibson removed abalone shell samples from 
archeological site CA-SLO-460, Fiscalini Ranch in Cambria Pine. The 
site was located on private property and was originally record in 1961 
as a temporary camp for the gathering of seafood by Geneva Hamilton. 
Additional archeological surveys were conducted in the 1970s through 
the 1990s, which noted rock oven features, bedrock mortars, chipped 
stone objects, and ground stone objects.
    In 1978, R.O. Gibson removed shell samples from archeological site 
CA-SLO-697, also known as Bob Gibson's Giant Footprint Site, in 
Cambria. The site reportedly consisted of a midden and oven feature 
with a low density of cultural deposits including net weights, pitted 
anvils, chert flakes, and shell fragment. Gibson hypothesized that the 
site actually consisted of several small sites that had blended 
together over time through the process of grading.
    In 1981, Lawrence Spanne removed marine shells samples (Tivela 
stultorum) from archeological site CA-SLO-754 (trinomial later voided 
and changed to CA-SLO-433) in Oceano, California. The site, which was 
located on private property, was first recorded as a small campsite in 
1954, though the property owner had noted that he had previously 
unintentionally disturbed a burial when plowing. In 1977 burials were 
disturbed during a property development project and the work was halted 
by local Chumash community members.
    In 1981, five iron cannons washed up on Christi Beach and were 
thought to have been associated with Sir Francis Drake (1579). 
Snethcamp and Associates submitted pieces of rope found in the vicinity 
of the cannons to UCR for radiocarbon dating. The rope samples yielded 
a date of 120  50 years B.P.
    The six lots of objects of cultural patrimony are five lots of 
shells and one lot of rope fragments.
    The four cultural items were removed from Santa Barbara County, CA. 
At an unknown date, shell samples were removed by an unknown individual 
from Santa Rosa Island and submitted to the University of California, 
Riverside Radiocarbon laboratory for testing. The samples were in jars 
labeled, ``Abalone shells from Indian Culture--Santa Rosa Island, 3,000 
years old'' and ``Shell Samples, Wavy Top, from Indian Culture--Santa 
Rosa Island, 3,000 years old''.
    The skeletal remains from a fox were removed from Santa Rosa Island 
and were submitted by Shelley Steven to the University of California, 
Riverside, Radiocarbon Laboratory at an unknown date.
    Burned faunal bone was removed by unknown individual from Santa 
Rosa Island at an unknown date and submitted to the University of 
California, Riverside, Radiocarbon Laboratory.
    The four lots of objects of cultural patrimony are two lots of 
shells and two lots of faunal remains.

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: archeological information, 
geographical information, historical information, oral tradition, and 
expert tribal 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 10 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.

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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 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 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. 3004, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

    Dated: February 20, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-04093 Filed 2-27-24; 8:45 am]
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