Notice2023-05728
Notice of Inventory Completion: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
March 21, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History 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. The human remains were removed from a location near Big Oak Flat in Tuolumne County, California.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 54 (Tuesday, March 21, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 21, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17012-17013]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05728]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035482; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural
History, Santa Barbara, 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 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
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. The human
remains were removed from a location near Big Oak Flat in Tuolumne
County, California.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or
after April 20, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Luke Swetland, President and CEO, Santa Barbara Museum of
Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara, CA 93105,
telephone (805) 682-4711, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#58342b2f3d2c3439363c182b3a36392c2d2a3d6a76372a3f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="731f000416071f121d173300111d1207060116415d1c0114">[email protected]</span></a>.
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
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. 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 the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
Description
Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed
from a location near Big Oak Flat in Tuolumne County, California. In
2013, a box labeled ``Chumash Skull'' and containing a human cranium
and mandible was discovered among the items donated by an estate to a
thrift store in Ojai, California. The Ventura County Sheriff's
Department released the cranial remains to Julie Tumamait-Stenslie,
Barbare[ntilde]o/Venture[ntilde]o Band of Chumash Mission Indians, who
in turn transferred them to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural
History. Subsequently, an investigation into the thrift store donation
by the Ventura County Coroner revealed that these human remains had
been in the donor's family for over 100 years, they were removed from a
location near Big Oak Flat in Tuolumne County, and they were not
Chumash. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary
objects are present.
Cultural Affiliation
The human remains 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: geographical, kinship,
biological, archeological, linguistic, folkloric, oral traditional,
historical, and other information or expert opinion.
Determinations
Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has
determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> There is a relationship of shared group identity that can
be reasonably traced between the human remains described in this notice
and the Bridgeport Indian Colony; Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule
River Reservation, California; and the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians
of the Tuolumne Rancheria of California.
[[Page 17013]]
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains 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 in this notice to a requestor may
occur on or after April 20, 2023. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
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 Santa Barbara Museum of
Natural History is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the
Indian Tribes identified in this notice.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, 10.10,
and 10.14.
Dated: March 15, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-05728 Filed 3-20-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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