Notice2026-05036
Notice of Inventory Completion: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA
Primary source
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Published
March 16, 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 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 91 Issue 50 (Monday, March 16, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 50 (Monday, March 16, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12610-12611]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-05036]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N6977; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0042298; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: 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
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 April 15, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
and associated funerary objects 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#08647b7f6d7c6469666c487b6a66697c7d7a6d3a26677a6f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a8c4dbdfcddcc4c9c6cce8dbcac6c9dcdddacd9a86c7dacf">[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 its inventory or related records. The
National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this
notice.
Abstract of Information Available
Human remains representing, at least, nine individuals have been
identified. At least 189 associated funerary objects are present. The
human remains include 33 skeletal elements under eight catalog numbers.
The first of these two accessions, comprised of 30 human skeletal
elements and 127 associated funerary objects, was donated by Wesley
[[Page 12611]]
Clover to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in 1997. The
second accession, comprised of three human skeletal elements and 62
associated funerary objects, was donated by Wesley Clover to the Santa
Cruz Island Foundation in February, 2009, and subsequently donated to
the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in March of that same year.
Wesley Clover was a familial descendant of notorious Channel Islands
Chumash grave robber Rev. Stephen DeMoss Bowers, from whose collections
these materials were derived. In aggregate, these combined accessions
are comprised of various classes of artifacts including bone (e.g.,
awls, flakers, fleshers, pry bars, deer tibia whistle, fragmented
faunal remains, sea mammal teeth, mountain lion claw, golden eagle
talon, prehistoric shark tooth, otolith, fish bone), unflaked stone
(e.g., mortar, pestles, manos, doughnut stones, cogstone, discoidal,
groundstone), flaked stone (e.g., projectile points, drills, cores,
scrapers), shell (e.g., abalone bowl, beads), mineral specimens (e.g.,
iron pyrite, chalcedony, ochre, obsidian), asphaltum, and historic
glass beads.
Cultural Affiliation
Based on the information available and the results of consultation,
cultural affiliation is reasonably identified by the geographical
location or acquisition history of the human remains and associated
funerary objects described in this notice.
Determinations
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of at least nine individuals of Native American
ancestry.
<bullet> The 189 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 connection between the human remains and
associated funerary objects described in this notice and the Santa Ynez
Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation,
California and the Tejon Indian Tribe.
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 an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with
cultural affiliation.
Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects
described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after April 15,
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
human remains and associated funerary objects 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.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.
Dated: March 5, 2026.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2026-05036 Filed 3-13-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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