Notice2025-07434
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Los Angeles, CA
Primary source
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Published
April 30, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History (LACMNH) 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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 82 (Wednesday, April 30, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 82 (Wednesday, April 30, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17952-17953]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-07434]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0040025; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: Los Angeles County Museum of
Natural History, Los Angeles, 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 Los Angeles County Museum of Natural
History (LACMNH) 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.
DATES: Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on
or after May 30, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Amy E. Gusick, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History,
900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, telephone (213) 763-
3370, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1e7f796b6d777d755e70767330716c79"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9ffef8eaecf6fcf4dff1f7f2b1f0edf8">[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
LACMNH, 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 four lots of cultural items have been requested for
repatriation. The four lots of unassociated funerary objects are
lithics, faunal bones, shells, and flora. The unassociated funerary
objects were removed from the Vasquez Rocks (CA-LAN-361) site in
northern Los Angeles County, CA. Owners of the land on which the site
now rests, Dr. Ascher and family, spent many years digging at the site
in the mid-1900s. In 1966, the location was bulldozed by vandals.
Between 1967-1970, LACNHM curator Dr. Charles Rozaire, as part of the
California State University, Northridge Archaeological School, held
field schools at the site, where students and supervisors excavated the
bulldozed site and recovered artifacts and bone originally identified
as faunal (non-human) bone. As a result of the looting and bulldozing,
the artifacts and bones recovered from the site were not in original
context and were highly fragmented.
In consultation with representatives of the Yuhaaviatam of San
Manuel Nation (also known as the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians)
and non-federally recognized California Tribes including the
Fernande[ntilde]o Tataviam Band of Mission Indians, in 2021, LACMNH
conducted a detailed bioarcheological assessment of the bone recovered
from CA-LAN-361 resulting in the identification and separation of human
remains from these cultural items.
Based on archaeological context and information learned from
consultations, these unassociated funerary objects are Native American.
Based on artifact assemblage typologies, obsidian hydration readings
and one radiocarbon date, archaeological evidence demonstrates that
Vasquez Rocks (LAN-361) was used as a cemetery between 2315 BCE-79 BCE
(Caruso 1988, Garza 2012, King et al. 1974), the Middle Holocene
Period. Archaeologists have asserted that Serrano and Tataviam peoples
have continuously occupied the
[[Page 17953]]
San Gabriel Mountains and the surrounding areas for up to 5,000-6,000
years BP. Linguistic sources demonstrate a strong continuous shared
group identity between those people using Vasquez Rocks roughly 3000
years ago and modern Native Americans of Serrano and Tataviam descent.
Ethnographic evidence and Traditional Knowledge document the Agua Dulce
and Sierra Pelona regions as home to Serrano and Tataviam peoples since
time immemorial.
Determinations
The LACMNH has determined that:
<bullet> The four lots of 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> There is a reasonable connection between the cultural
items described in this notice and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians,
California and the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation (previously listed
as San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, California).
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 May 30, 2025. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the LACMNH 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 LACMNH is responsible for sending a copy of
this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations
identified in 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: April 15, 2025
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-07434 Filed 4-29-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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