Notice2023-09764
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Museum of Us, San Diego, 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
May 9, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Museum of Us intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural items were removed from Sacramento County, CA.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 89 (Tuesday, May 9, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 9, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 29946]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-09764]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0035802; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Museum of Us, San
Diego, 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 Museum of Us intends to repatriate
certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated
funerary objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian
Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural
items were removed from Sacramento County, CA.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after June 8, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Carmen Mosley, NAGPRA Repatriation Manager, Museum of Us,
1350 El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA 92101, telephone (619) 239-
2001 Ext. 42, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#87e4eae8f4ebe2fec7eaf2f4e2f2eae8e1f2f4a9e8f5e0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="99faf4f6eaf5fce0d9f4eceafcecf4f6ffeceab7f6ebfe">[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
Museum of Us. 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 summary or related records held by the Museum of
Us.
Description
Between 1930 and 1936, 190 cultural items were removed from Wamser
Mound (CV-10; CA-SAC-157) in Sacramento County, CA, by Henry Gibbs, a
private collector and looter. In 1937, Paul A. Walker purchased Gibbs'
Central Valley, California archeological collection. Walker was an
amateur archeologist and collector who worked by himself and with other
amateur archeologists, and in collaboration with the University of
California and Sacramento Junior College. Over the course of his life,
Walker amassed an extensive archeological collection from California's
Central Valley and smaller collections from Northern and Southern
California, and outside of California. In 1968, Walker's private
archeological collection was acquired by the San Diego Museum of Man
(now Museum of Us) through a purchase/donation transaction with
Walker's widow, Bessie B. Walker. The 190 unassociated funerary objects
are 12 strings of Olivella beads, three strings of clam shell beads, 21
Haliotis pendants, 128 Haliotis ornaments, seven miscellaneous shell
ornaments, two faunal teeth, 10 faunal bone fragments, one stone bead,
one charmstone fragment, three perforated slate discs, one faunal bone
bead, and one bipointed faunal bone artifact.
Cultural Affiliation
The cultural items 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: archeological, geographical,
and historical.
Determinations
Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations, the Museum of Us has determined that:
<bullet> The 190 cultural items described above 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 and
are believed, by a preponderance of the evidence, to have been removed
from the specific burial sites of Native American individuals.
<bullet> There is a relationship of shared group identity that can
be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Wilton
Rancheria, California.
Requests for Repatriation
Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items
in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in
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 June 8, 2023. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the Museum of Us 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. The Museum of Us is responsible for sending a
copy of this notice to the Indian Tribe identified in this notice.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.8, 10.10,
and 10.14.
Dated: May 3, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-09764 Filed 5-8-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on May 9, 2023.
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