Notice2026-01670
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
January 28, 2026
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 91 Issue 18 (Wednesday, January 28, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 18 (Wednesday, January 28, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3730-3731]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-01670]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6883; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0041882; 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 February 27, 2026.
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#412d323624352d202f250132232f2035343324736f2e3326"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="660a151103120a0708022615040807121314035448091401">[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 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 14 trays of cultural items (approx. 46,656 objects) have
been requested for repatriation. The 14 trays of unassociated funerary
objects consist of stone artifacts (bowls, pestles, beads, etc.),
asphaltum, projectile points, fish hooks, shell beads and bead
fragments (which account for the large number of objects), abalone
spangles and ornaments, unsorted midden material, detritus, gravers,
drills, mammal bones (including fox) and teeth (including whale), bird
bones, tarring pebbles, donut stones, red ochre, skirt weights, fish
bones (including shark centra), basketry fragments, asphaltum basket
impressions, seagrass cordage and matting fragments, eelgrass cordage,
sinkers, net weights, bone awls, whale vertebra bowl, mortar fragments/
groundstone, bone tools, etc. These items were excavated from cemetery
sites on Santa Rosa Island at Skull Gulch (SRI-2A and SRI-2B) by Phil
Orr over several seasons of archaeological fieldwork between 1947 and
1951.
Determinations
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has determined that:
<bullet> The 14 trays of unassociated funerary objects described in
this notice were 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 Santa Ynez Band of Chumash
Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California.
Requests for Repatriation
Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items
in this notice must be sent to the authorized
[[Page 3731]]
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 February 27, 2026. 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: January 15, 2026.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2026-01670 Filed 1-27-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 28, 2026.
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