[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 40 (Wednesday, February 28, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14704-14705]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-04099]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037486; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: California State University, 
Sacramento, Sacramento, CA and California State Department of 
Transportation, 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), California State University, Sacramento and 
California State Department of Transportation (Caltrans) have completed 
an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and have 
determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human 
remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes in this 
notice. The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed 
from Sacramento County, CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after March 29, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Mark Wheeler, Chief of Staff to President Luke Wood, 
California State University, Sacramento, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 
95819, telephone (916) 460-0490, email [email protected] and Dr. 
Lisa Bright, Branch Chief District 3, Cultural Resources (South), 
California State Department of Transportation, 703 B Street, 
Marysville, CA 95901, telephone (530) 812-4569, 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 
California State University, Sacramento and Caltrans. 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 California State University, Sacramento and Caltrans.

Description

    In 1954-1956, 1967 and 1972, human remains representing, at 
minimum, 486 individuals were removed from CA-SAC-29 (also known as 
Roeder Mound and Sama). The 1954-56 excavations were carried out by 
Sacramento State College (now California State University, Sacramento) 
under the direction of Richard Reeve and Brigham Arnold. The 1967 
excavations were carried out by the State Department of Parks and 
Recreation (DPR) for Caltrans under the direction of William Prichard. 
A salvage excavation done under the direction of Jerald J. Johnson for 
Pacific Gas and Electric in 1972, a 1990 donation of human remains and 
artifacts made by a private collector, and a 1950s donation of 
artifacts by the estate of Anthony Zallio to the University are also 
part of the assemblage. Occupation of the site is estimated to have 
occurred during the Early through Historic periods. The 643,304 
associated funerary objects removed from this site include baked clay 
objects; ash; modified bones, stones, and shells; historic materials; 
flaked and ground stones; thermally-altered rocks; textiles; floral and 
faunal remains; pigment; unmodified stones; cooking stones; coprolites; 
mud dauber nests; soil and column samples; modern refuse; and 
unidentified materials. Of this number, at least 198 objects are 
currently missing from the collection and California State University, 
Sacramento continues to look for them. An unknown number of additional 
objects are also missing.

Cultural Affiliation

    The human remains and associated funerary objects 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

[[Page 14705]]

Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. The following types of 
information were used to reasonably trace the relationship: 
anthropological, archeological, folkloric, geographical, historical, 
kinship, linguistic, oral traditional, and expert opinion.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, California State University, Sacramento and Caltrans has 
determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of 486 individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 643,304 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects described in this notice and the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-
Wuk Indians of California; Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of 
California; Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California; Jackson Band of 
Miwuk Indians; Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs 
Rancheria (Verona Tract), California; United Auburn Indian Community of 
the Auburn Rancheria of California; and the Wilton Rancheria, 
California.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects 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 and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after March 29, 2024. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, California State 
University, Sacramento and Caltrans must determine the most appropriate 
requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects are considered a single 
request and not competing requests. California State University, 
Sacramento and Caltrans are responsible for sending a copy of this 
notice to the Indian Tribes 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. 2024-04099 Filed 2-27-24; 8:45 am]
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