Notice2026-18322
Notice of Inventory Completion: University of California Riverside, Riverside, 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 9, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentNational Park Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of California has completed an inventory of human remains and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 173 (Wednesday, September 9, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 173 (Wednesday, September 9, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57376-57377]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-18322]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service
[N7466; NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0043673; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]
Notice of Inventory Completion: 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 has completed
an inventory of human remains and has determined that there is a
cultural affiliation between the human remains and Indian Tribes or
Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice.
DATES: Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or
after October 9, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Send written requests for repatriation of the human remains
in this notice to Michael Chavez, Repatriation Coordinator, University
of California Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92521,
email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5b3638333a2d3e211b2e3829753e3f2e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d5b8b6bdb4a3b0af95a0b6a7fbb0b1a0">[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 UC
Riverside 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, one individual have been
identified. No associated funerary objects are present.
In September of 1985, human remains representing one adult Native
American individual, represented by approximately 15 human bone
fragments (Accession #: UA-2022-001 Catalogue #: 6111 (UCR-2125)), were
recovered during the excavation of a swimming pool at a private
residence in Beverly Hills. The human remains were removed by Detective
Zoeller of the Beverly Hills Police Department and brought to Dr. Judy
Suchey, forensic anthropologist at CSU Fullerton, for analysis. Dr.
Suchey examined the remains and believed that they likely represented a
prehistoric individual, rather than a modern forensics case. Dr. Suchey
sent the remains to the UCR Radiocarbon Laboratory under the direction
of Dr. Ervin Taylor to determine an age. According to laboratory
records the individual was approximately 2150 years old and therefore
was confirmed to be a Native American ancestor. Dr. Taylor, for reasons
unknown, kept the remains and did not alert anyone at UCR of the
presence of Native American ancestral remains on campus, despite being
asked by campus administration in the early 2000s about possible human
remains from the radiocarbon laboratory.
In 2022, Megan Murphy, UCR Repatriation Coordinator, discovered the
remains along with a large amount of other hidden materials in an off-
campus storage facility that had been used by the late Dr. Taylor to
conceal the samples he retained from the laboratory. Megan Murphy
contacted Megan Lonski, CSU Fullerton NAGPRA Repatriation Coordinator,
who confirmed that no other remains from said individual were at the
CSUF campus. Murphy and Lonski then contacted the Los Angeles County
Medical Examiner's office to determine if any additional remains could
be present at their facility. Investigators with the LA Medical
Examiner's office confirmed that they could not locate any additional
remains. The absence of any known remains from said individual at other
locations along with the comparison of the photographs of the burial
compared with the remains present at UCR suggest that the entire
individual was sent by Dr. Suchey to UCR for radiocarbon dating. Due to
the individual being housed at UCR, the notice and subsequent
repatriation will be handled by UCR. No known funerary objects were
found with the remains and no known individual could be identified.
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 described in this
notice.
Determinations
The University of California has determined that:
<bullet> The human remains described in this notice represent the
physical remains of, at minimum, one individual of Native American
ancestry.
<bullet> There is a connection between the human remains described
in this notice and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, California and
the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez
Reservation, California.
[[Page 57377]]
Requests for Repatriation
Written requests for repatriation of the human remains 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 described in this notice to a
requestor may occur on or after October 9, 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 human remains 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 any other consulting parties.
Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,
25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.
Dated: September 1, 2026.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2026-18322 Filed 9-8-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 9, 2026.
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