Notice2025-17014
Notice of Intended Repatriation: 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
September 5, 2025
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 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 170 (Friday, September 5, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 170 (Friday, September 5, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42979-42980]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-17014]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6492; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041015; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: 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
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 October 6, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the
cultural items in this notice to Luke Swetland, President and CEO,
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa
Barbara, CA 93105, email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#90fce3e7f5e4fcf1fef4d0e3f2fef1e4e5e2f5a2beffe2f7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="deb2ada9bbaab2bfb0ba9eadbcb0bfaaabacbbecf0b1acb9">[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, and additional information on
the determinations in this notice, including
[[Page 42980]]
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 40 cultural items have been requested for repatriation.
The 40 unassociated funerary objects consist of olivella shell beads
and one bird bone [femur] fragment. These items were collected from a
cave southeast of Indian Wells, CA, on April 2, 1920, by invertebrate
zoologist S. Stillman Berry, and donated to the Museum in 1985.
Determinations
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has determined that:
<bullet> The 40 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 Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla
Indians of the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation, California; Cabazon
Band of Cahuilla Indians (previously listed as Cabason Band of Mission
Indians, California); Chemehuevi Indian Tribe of the Chemehuevi
Reservation, California; Morongo Band of Mission Indians, California;
Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, California; and the Twenty-
Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians of 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 October 6, 2025. 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 cultural items 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 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: August 26, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-17014 Filed 9-4-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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