[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 117 (Monday, June 17, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51363-51364]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-13242]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0038093; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


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

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after July 17, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Marisol Espino, California Department of Transportation, 703 
B Street, Marysville, CA 95901, telephone (530) 812-4546, 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 
Caltrans, 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. The 528 catalog 
entries of associated funerary objects (221 from Acc. 75-12 and 307 
from Acc. 362) are modified stone, unmodified stone, debitage, 
unmodified faunal elements, modified faunal elements, historic 
material, modified shell, organics, and charcoal samples. Eighteen 
objects represented by 12 catalog entries are missing from the 
collections, and Caltrans and CSU Chico continue to look for them. 
These objects were not identified during the catalog verification 
process.
    The individual and associated funerary objects are from 
archaeological

[[Page 51364]]

site CA-LAK-435, which is located in Lake County, California. They were 
recovered as a part of excavations undertaken by Caltrans in 1975 for 
widening of State Route 20 and again in 2004 for roadway rehabilitation 
activities. These human remains and associated funerary objects are 
controlled by Caltrans and in the possession of California State 
University, Chico (CSUC).
    A Notice of Inventory Completion (66 FR 54283) published in the 
Federal Register on October 26, 2001, for Native American human remains 
and associated funerary objects related to the 1975 excavation, which 
were previously in the possession of Sonoma State University (SSU). The 
one individual and 217 catalog entries of associated funerary objects 
described in that notice were not repatriated at the time as no request 
for repatriation was received. At the request of the consulting 
culturally affiliated Indian Tribe, the entirely of the collection at 
SSU (Acc. 75-12) has been transferred into the possession of CSUC to 
reunite the individual and associated funerary objects with the 
cultural items recovered during the 2004 excavation (Acc. 362). The one 
individual and 528 catalog entries of associated funerary objects 
represent the entirety of both collections (Acc. 75-12 and Acc. 362). 
There is no known history of treatment of the collection with any 
hazardous substances at any of the repositories at this time.

Cultural Affiliation

    Based on the information available and the results of consultation, 
cultural affiliation is reasonably identified by the geographical 
location or acquisition history of the human remains and associated 
funerary objects described in this notice.

Determinations

    The California Department of Transportation has determined that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
     The 528 catalog entries described in this notice are 
reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near 
individual human remains at the time of death or later as part of the 
death rite or ceremony.
     There is a reasonable connection between the human remains 
and associated funerary objects described in this notice and the 
Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, California.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects 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 and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after July 17, 2024. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the California 
Department of Transportation 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. The California Department of 
Transportation 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: June 7, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-13242 Filed 6-14-24; 8:45 am]
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