[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 183 (Friday, September 20, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77187-77188]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-21543]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0038740; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intended Repatriation: California Department of 
Transportation, Bishop, 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 Department of Transportation 
(Caltrans) intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects or objects of cultural 
patrimony and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes 
or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.

DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on 
or after October 21, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Jennifer Blake, Caltrans, 500 South Main Street, Bishop, CA 
93514, telephone (760) 937-3894, 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 
summary or related records. The National Park Service is not 
responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

    A total of 1,864 cultural items have been requested for 
repatriation. The 735 unassociated funerary objects are debitage, 
bifaces, flake tools, faunal bone fragments, groundstone fragments, 
ceramic sherds, beads, and modern/historic items. The 1,129 objects of 
cultural patrimony are debitage, modified bone, projectile points, 
bifaces, flake tools, faunal bone, cores, groundstone fragments, 
ceramic sherds, paleobotanical samples, and modern/historic items. 
These cultural items are housed at three repositories under the 
following accession numbers: at the University of California, Davis, 
Acc 406-19 from site CA-INY-371/H; at California State University, 
Bakersfield, Acc 5953-1 from site CA-INY-5953H, Acc 5958 from site CA-
INY-5958/H, Acc 5964 from site CA-INY-5964, Acc 5966 from site CA-INY-
5966, Acc 5981 from site CA-INY-5981, Acc 5984 from site CA-INY-5984, 
and Acc 5990 from site CA-INY-5990/H; and at the University of 
California, Riverside, Acc 308 from site CA-INY-5961/H, Acc 309 from 
site CA-INY-5962/H, Acc 311 from site CA-INY-5969/5971/H, Acc 312 from 
site CA-INY-5990/H, Acc 265 from site CA-INY-7716, Acc 281 from site 
CA-INY-7746, and Acc 313 from site CA-INY-7746. The collections are 
from sites located in the Owens Valley of the Eastern Sierra region of 
California, near Owens Lake. The collections were recovered from 
Caltrans right of way between 1993-2011 during a surface or subsurface 
archaeological investigation in compliance with state and federal 
environmental laws in support of Caltrans' Olancha-Cartago Four Lane 
Project. Objects in these collections are culturally affiliated with 
the Paiute and Western Shoshone. Modern-day tribes with ancestral ties 
to this area include the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Reservation, the Big 
Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley, the Bishop Paiute Tribe, the 
Fort Independence Indian Community of Paiutes, and the Death Valley 
Timbisha-Shoshone Tribe. To the best of Caltrans' knowledge, the 
cultural items in this archaeological collection have not been treated 
with hazardous substances.

Determinations

    Caltrans has determined that:
     The 735 unassociated funerary objects described in this 
notice are reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with 
or near human remains, and are connected, either at the time of death 
or later as part of the death rite or ceremony of a Native American 
culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a 
lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. The 
unassociated funerary objects have been identified by a preponderance 
of the evidence as related to human remains, specific individuals, or 
families, or removed from a specific burial site or burial area of an 
individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe 
or Native Hawaiian organization.
     The 1,129 objects of cultural patrimony described in this 
notice have ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance 
central to the Native American group, including any constituent sub-
group (such as a band, clan, lineage, ceremonial society, or other 
subdivision), according to the Native American traditional knowledge of 
an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
     There is a reasonable connection between the cultural 
items described in this notice and the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe.

Requests for Repatriation

    Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items 
in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified 
in this notice under 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 October 21, 2024. If competing requests for 
repatriation are received, Caltrans 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. Caltrans is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to 
the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in

[[Page 77188]]

this notice and to any other consulting parties.
    Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 
25 U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

    Dated: September 12, 2024.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2024-21543 Filed 9-19-24; 8:45 am]
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