Notice2025-18585
Notice of Intended Repatriation: University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA
Primary source
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Published
September 25, 2025
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of California, Riverside intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of 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 90 Issue 184 (Thursday, September 25, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 184 (Thursday, September 25, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46239-46240]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-18585]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6537; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041127; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Intended Repatriation: University of California,
Riverside, Riverside, 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 University of California, Riverside
intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition
of 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 27, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Send additional, written requests for repatriation of the
cultural items in this notice to Megan Murphy, University of
California, Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92517-5900,
email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#34595153555a1a594146445c4d744157461a515041"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="bcd1d9dbddd292d1c9ceccd4c5fcc9dfce92d9d8c9">[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
University of California, Riverside, 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 12 cultural items have been requested for repatriation.
The 12 objects of cultural patrimony are two lots of lithics, one
hammerstone, one mano, one metate, one lot of ceramics, one shell bead,
one projectile point, one lot of soil samples, one lot of marine
shells, one lot of faunal bone, and one clay object.
Between 1989 and 1992 one lot of lithic flakes and one hammerstone
were collected from archaeological site CA-SBR-86, also known as
Elephant Mountain Quarry, as part of a graduate student's dissertation
project and were assigned UCR accession number 176. Anthropologists
including Kroeber, Bean, and Smith, generally agree that Elephant
Mountain is located in the ancestral territory of the Vanyume, a
dessert branch of the Serrano people. Broken grinding stones and
pestles, debitage, and other cultural materials were noted by the
student as being evidence of prehistoric quarrying. The flakes and
hammerstones were identified by tribal representatives as being objects
of cultural patrimony for the Serrano people. The two objects of
cultural patrimony are one lot of lithic flakes and one hammerstone.
In 1972, the University of California, Riverside Archaeological
Research Unit (UCR-ARU) was contracted to conduct an archaeological
survey of portions of a proposed pipeline through the Fry Mountain
region in San Bernardino county, California. No cultural objects were
reported to have been collected in the survey report, however, in 2022
the UCR NAGPRA Program discovered a large grinding stone labelled
``Cottonwood, Gardner. ARU #??? No Acc #'' in the UCR archaeological
collections. UCR NAGPRA Program staff were able to connect the stone to
the 1972 project based on descriptions of areas surveyed in the 1972
report. The stone was assigned UCR Accession number 407. The stone was
identified by tribal representatives as being an object of cultural
patrimony for the Serrano people. The one object of cultural patrimony
is one metate.
In 2022, UCR NAGPRA Program staff discovered 17 ceramic Brownware
sherds in the UCR archaeological collections labelled ``17 sherds
collected by GTJ, Field Loc. #1, north end of West Cronese Lake, west
of Baker''. No other information could be connected with the sherds.
The sherds were assigned UCR Accession number 425. The sherds were
identified by tribal representatives as coming from Serrano Ancestral
Territory and being objects of cultural patrimony for the Serrano
people. The one lot of cultural patrimony is one lot of ceramics.
In 2022, UCR NAGPRA Program staff discovered an Olivella shell bead
in the UCR archaeological collections labelled ``W. Margin of Means Dry
Lake, \1/4\ mile West of Road''. No other information could be
connected with the bead. The bead was assigned UCR Accession number
436. The bead was identified by tribal representatives as coming from
Serrano Ancestral Territory and being an object of cultural patrimony
for the Serrano people. The one object of cultural patrimony is one
shell bead.
In 2022, UCR NAGPRA Program staff discovered a projectile point in
the UCR archaeological collections labelled ``Ord Mountain Quad 15 min
series, Tyler Lake Bed, Stephen Brown''. No other information could be
connected with the projectile point. The point was assigned UCR
Accession number 437. The projectile point was identified by tribal
representatives as coming from Serrano Ancestral Territory and being
objects of cultural patrimony for the Serrano people. The one object of
cultural patrimony is one projectile point.
In 2022, UCR NAGPRA Program staff discovered a lithic flake and a
mano fragment in the UCR archaeological collections labelled ``SBCM
#2459''. Archaeological site SBCM-2459 is also identified as CA-SBR-83
and is located near Cave Mountain in San Bernardino county. The site is
described in archaeological site records as a ``small surface site on
both sides of a small recut fan, on North side of Mojave River''. Other
surface objects noted in site records include potsherds, a metate
fragment, manos, choppers, and lithic flakes. The objects were assigned
UCR Accession number 459. The mano fragment and lithic flaked were
identified by tribal representatives as coming from Serrano Ancestral
Territory and being objects of cultural patrimony for the Serrano
people. The two objects of cultural patrimony are one lot of lithics
and one mano.
At an unknown date, an unknown researcher submitted four soil
samples from archaeological site CA-SBR-113 to the University of
California, Riverside Radiocarbon Laboratory. The site is located in
the hills near Crowder Creek in San Bernardino county and is
[[Page 46240]]
described by archaeologists as probably being ``a seasonal plant
procurement and processing site with little emphasis on hunting''.
Roasting pits/hearths, lithic surface scatter, and a possible prepared
surface were also reported by archaeologists in site records. The soil
samples were identified by tribal representatives as coming from
Serrano Ancestral Territory and being objects of cultural patrimony for
the Serrano people. The one object of cultural patrimony is one lot of
soil samples.
From 1970 to 1984, Donald Shusky, an amateur malacologist,
collected marine shells, an animal tooth, and a clay object from his
personal residence in Redlands, California. These materials were sent
to the UCR Radiocarbon Laboratory to be dated and remained at UCR in
the archaeological collections. The materials were identified by tribal
representatives as coming from Serrano Ancestral Territory and being
objects of cultural patrimony for the Serrano people. The three objects
of cultural patrimony are one clay object, one lot of marine shells,
and one lot of faunal bone.
Determinations
The University of California, Riverside has determined that:
<bullet> The 12 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 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 October 27, 2025. If competing requests for
repatriation are received, the University of California, Riverside 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 University of
California, Riverside 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: September 11, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-18585 Filed 9-24-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 25, 2025.
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