[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 102 (Friday, May 24, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45921-45922]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-11443]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037981; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Inventory Completion: University of California, 
Riverside, Riverside, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or 
after June 24, 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, and additional information on the 
determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, 
can be found in the inventory or related records. The National Park 
Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

    Based on the information available, human remains representing, at 
least, one individual have been reasonably identified. No associated 
funerary objects are present.
    At an unknown date human remains were removed by an unknown 
individual from a gravel pit in Madison County, Nebraska known as the 
``Norfolk Gravel Pit'' (archaeological site 25MD7) and were donated to 
the Nebraska State Historical Society. At some point prior to 2001, 
Steve Holen loaned the remains from the Nebraska State Historical 
Society to Robson

[[Page 45922]]

Bonnichsen, at Oregon State University, as part of ``the Human Skeletal 
Dating Project''. Bonnichsen obtained human remains that he believed to 
be of great antiquity as part of the project to send for radiocarbon 
dating analysis. The remains were submitted to the radiocarbon dating 
laboratory at the University of California, Riverside, under the 
direction of Dr. R.E. Taylor, and were tested on September 7, 2001 
according to laboratory records. Although Taylor was well-aware of 
NAGPRA and his obligations under the federal law, he concealed the 
remains on campus until they were discovered in 2022 by UCR's 
Repatriation Coordinator. The UCR NAGPRA Program contacted the 
University of Nebraska State Museum upon discovering the remains, as 
similar remains were reported in a Notice of Inventory Completion 
published by the museum in 2000 which had reportedly been donated by 
the Nebraska State Historical Society to the museum. The Nebraska State 
Museum indicated that although the remains are likely from the same or 
a nearby site, they could not confirm if they were from the same 
individual previously repatriated by the museum and declined legal 
responsibility for the repatriation.

Cultural Affiliation

    Based on the information available and the results of consultation, 
cultural affiliation is clearly identified by the information available 
about the human remains described in this notice.

Determinations

    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 reasonable connection between the human remains 
and associated funerary objects described in this notice and the 
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South 
Dakota; Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma; Kickapoo Tribe of Indians of the 
Kickapoo Reservation in Kansas; Oglala Sioux Tribe; Omaha Tribe of 
Nebraska; Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Indians of 
Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Nebraska; Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud 
Indian Reservation, South Dakota; Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska; Spirit 
Lake Tribe, North Dakota; Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North & South 
Dakota; Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North 
Dakota; Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota; 
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska; and the Yankton Sioux Tribe of South 
Dakota.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains in this 
notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified in this 
notice under 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 June 24, 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 10.10.

    Dated: May 15, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-11443 Filed 5-23-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P