Notice2025-12825
Notice of Inventory Completion: Merced College, Merced, CA
Primary source
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Published
July 10, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Merced College has completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 130 (Thursday, July 10, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 130 (Thursday, July 10, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30678-30679]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-12825]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0040471; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: Merced College, Merced, 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), Merced College has completed an inventory of
human remains and associated funerary objects and has determined that
there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and
associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian
organizations in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary
objects in this notice may occur on or after August 11, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
and
[[Page 30679]]
associated funerary objects in this notice to Jeff Buechler, Social
Sciences Stop 35--Merced College, 3600 M Street, Merced, CA 95348,
email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5c36393a3a2e3925723e29393f3430392e1c313f3f3872393829"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="cfa5aaa9a9bdaab6e1adbaaaaca7a3aabd8fa2acacabe1aaabba">[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 Merced
College, and additional information on the determinations in this
notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the
inventory or related records. The National Park Service is not
responsible for the determinations in this notice.
Abstract of Information Available
In or before May 1970, human remains were uncovered in a private
agricultural field near Dos Palos, Fresno County, CA, dubbed the
``Wilkins Site'', although its exact location is unknown. Following the
discovery, Professor Charles Ostrander and students of Merced College
conducted excavations at the site and removed a minimum of 21
individuals and some associated funerary objects. Of the 10 associated
funerary objects listed, nine are present and accounted for in Merced
College's collections, and one is currently missing. The nine present
associated funerary objects are one lot of stone cores, one lot of
faunal material, one lot of groundstone implements, one lot of black
metasedimentary lithic debitage, one lot of chert lithic debitage, one
oblong stone, one projectile point, one lot of rocks, and one stone
unifacial tool. The one missing associated funerary object is one lot
of shell beads.
In 2020, human remains labeled ``Dos Palos-Richard Farmer'' and
``Firebaugh'' were identified in the Merced College collection,
representing a minimum of three individuals. These individuals may have
been removed from the Wilkins Site mentioned above, as Dos Palos and
Firebaugh are nearby towns, or they could have been removed from other
unknown sites in the area. No associated funerary objects are present.
In or before March of 1989, fragmentary human remains and
associated funerary objects were removed from the surface of a ``Native
American Cemetery Site'' on private property, southwest of the town of
Red Top in Madera County, CA. In March of 1989, a minimum of one
individual and a sample of associated funerary objects from this site
were donated to Merced College by Dawn Jackson. The three associated
funerary objects are one lot of shell beads, one stone mortar bowl, one
stone metate.
On an unknown date, a minimum of one individual was removed from an
unrecorded site at an unknown location labeled ``El Nido'', which is
presumed to be near the town of El Nido, along Highway 59 in Merced
County, CA. On an unknown date, the individual was then brought to
Merced College and determined to be Native American. No associated
funerary objects are present.
In 1979, Charles Ostrander and Merced College students excavated at
CA-MER-221, also known as the Frank Staumbach site, in the Los Banos
area of Merced County, CA. They may have also excavated in one or two
adjacent sites (CA-MER-220, CA-MER-223) as well, but this remains
unclear. Human remains, representing a minimum of three individuals,
were located in a box labeled ``. . . MER-220, 221, 223'' in the Merced
College collections. The five associated funerary objects are one lot
of shell beads, one lot of steatite beads, one lot of possible bone
beads, one lot of faunal bone and fish vertebrae, and one lot of shell
fragments.
Cultural Affiliation
Based on the information available and the results of consultation,
cultural affiliation is clearly identified by the information available
about the human remains and associated funerary objects described in
this notice.
Determinations
Merced College has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of 29 individuals of Native American ancestry.
<bullet> The 18 objects described in this notice are reasonably
believed to have been placed intentionally with or near individual
human remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite
or ceremony.
<bullet> There is a reasonable connection between the human remains
and associated funerary objects described in this notice and the
Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of California; Santa Rosa
Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, California; Table
Mountain Rancheria; Tejon Indian Tribe; and the Tule River Indian Tribe
of the Tule River Reservation, California.
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and
associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the
authorized representative identified in this notice under 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 and associated funerary objects
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after August 11, 2025. If
competing requests for repatriation are received, Merced College must
determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation.
Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and associated
funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing
requests. Merced College is responsible for sending a copy of this
notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations
identified in this notice.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.
Dated: June 25, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-12825 Filed 7-9-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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