Notice2025-22910
Notice of Intended Repatriation: University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA
Primary source
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Published
December 16, 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 unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and/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 90 Issue 239 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 239 (Tuesday, December 16, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58266-58267]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-22910]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6632; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041365; 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 unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and/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 January 15, 2026.
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,
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#85e8e0e2e4ebabe8f0f7f5edfcc5f0e6f7abe0e1f0"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1f727a787e7131726a6d6f77665f6a7c6d317a7b6a">[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 six cultural items have been requested for repatriation.
The six objects of cultural patrimony are three lots of ceramics and
three lots of lithics.
In 1987, the University of California, Riverside Archaeological
Research Unit (UCR-ARU) was contracted to conduct archaeological
surveys along to route of a proposed KV transmission line spanning 55
miles through southern Riverside and northern Imperial counties. The
general path of the proposed line followed the eastern shore of the
Salton Sea and the eastern shore of the ancestral Lake Cahuilla. A
total of twenty-two prehistoric archaeological sites, seven isolated
artifacts, and three historical sites were recorded by the UCR-ARU over
the course of the project. Artifacts were collected from the surface of
archaeological sites CA-RIV-3210, CA-RIV-3216, CA-RIV-3374, CA-RIV-
3217, and CA-RIV-3221 which were located in the Durmid and Mortmar
region of the Coachella Valley. Archaeological sites CA-RIV-3210, CA-
RIV-3216, and CA-RIV-3374 described by archaeologists as flake and
ceramic scatters and the materials collected from these sites were
housed at UCR under accession number 124. Archaeological site CA-RIV-
3217 was described by archaeologists as a large seasonal campsite
located along the eastern shore of ancestral lake Cahuilla; objects
collected from the site were housed at UCR under accession number 134.
Archaeological site CA-RIV-3221 was also described as a lithic and
ceramic scatter and surface finds were housed at UCR under accession
number 135. The shorelines of the Salton Sea and ancestral Lake
Cahuilla are located within the area traditionally occupied by the
ancestors of the desert divisions of the Cahuilla tribes. In 2025,
representatives of the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians reviewed
UCR accessions 124, 134, and 135 and identified the materials as
objects of cultural patrimony, which are important to the history of
the desert Cahuilla people.
Determinations
The University of California, Riverside has determined that:
<bullet> The six 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 Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla
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 January 15, 2026. 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.
[[Page 58267]]
Dated: November 19, 2025.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2025-22910 Filed 12-15-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 16, 2025.
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