Notice2024-21543
Notice of Intended Repatriation: California Department of Transportation, Bishop, CA
Primary source
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Published
September 20, 2024
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 183 (Friday, September 20, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 183 (Friday, September 20, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77187-77188]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[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 <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#bad0dfd4d4d3dcdfc894d8d6dbd1dffaded5ce94d9db94ddd5cc"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c5afa0ababaca3a0b7eba7a9a4aea085a1aab1eba6a4eba2aab3">[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
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:
<bullet> 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.
<bullet> 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.
<bullet> 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]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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