[Federal Register: March 15, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 50)]
[Notices]               
[Page 14052-14054]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15mr11-113]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]

 
Notice of Inventory Completion: California State University, 
Sacramento, Sacramento, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Notice is here given in accordance with the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3003, of the 
completion of an inventory of human remains and associated funerary 
objects in the possession of California State University, Sacramento, 
Sacramento, CA. The human remains and associated funerary objects were 
removed from Site CA-SAC-16, Sacramento County, CA.
    This notice is published as part of the National Park Service's 
administrative responsibilities under NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3003(d)(3). The 
determinations in this notice are the sole responsibility of the 
museum, institution, or Federal agency that has control of the Native 
American human remains and associated funerary objects. The National 
Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.
    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by California 
State University, Sacramento, professional staff in consultation with 
representatives of the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of 
California; Cortina Indian Rancheria of Wintun Indians of California; 
Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California; Shingle

[[Page 14053]]

Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona 
Tract), California; and United Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn 
Rancheria of California, as well as the non-Federally recognized Indian 
groups of the El Dorado Miwok Tribe and Nashville-El Dorado Miwok. The 
Wilton Rancheria, California, and Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, California 
(formerly the Rumsey Indian Rancheria of Wintun Indians of California) 
were also contacted, but did not participate in consultation on the 
human remains and associated funerary objects described in this notice.
    At an unknown time in the 1930s, human remains representing a 
minimum of four individuals were removed from private property on Site 
CA-SAC-16, in Sacramento County, CA. The human remains were in the 
possession of Anthony Zallio, the collector. In 1951, the human 
remains, along with the rest of the Zallio Collection, were donated to 
Sacramento State College (now California State University, Sacramento). 
No known individuals were identified. No associated funerary objects 
are present.
    In 1953, human remains representing a minimum of two individuals 
were removed from private property on Site CA-SAC-16, in Sacramento 
County, CA, during an excavation project. Faculty and students from 
Sacramento State College conducted the excavation. One additional 
individual is either missing from the collection or was not collected 
from the field. No known individuals were identified. The 583 
associated funerary objects are 545 beads, 5 bags of debitage, 17 bags 
of faunal material, 2 modified faunal bones, 8 ornaments, and 6 
projectile points. Eight additional associated funerary objects (three 
beads and five projectile points) are missing.
    From 1961 to 1971, human remains representing a minimum of 89 
individuals were removed from private property on Site CA-SAC-16, in 
Sacramento County, CA, during an excavation project. Faculty and 
students from American River College conducted the salvage excavation. 
The collection was later transferred to California State University, 
Sacramento. Seven additional individuals are either missing or were not 
collected from the field. No known individuals were identified. The one 
associated funerary object is a baked clay net sinker. Eight additional 
associated funerary objects (seven beads and one projectile point) are 
missing.
    In 1971, human remains representing a minimum of 26 individuals 
were removed from private property on Site CA-SAC-16, in Sacramento 
County, CA, during a salvage excavation project. Faculty and students 
from Sacramento State College conducted the salvage excavation. 
Thirteen additional individuals are either missing or were not 
collected from the field. No known individuals were identified. The 
2,867 associated funerary objects are 2 bone awls, 22 bags of baked 
clay, 2,747 beads, 1 bone tube, 3 bags of carbonized material, 12 bags 
of debitage, 17 bags of faunal material, 1 piece of glass, 8 bags of 
grave fill, 2 pieces of metal, 10 modified faunal bones, 29 ornaments, 
6 projectile points, 6 stone tools, and 1 whistle. Thirty-two 
additional associated funerary objects (4 bone awls, 2 bags of baked 
clay, 2 beads, 1 biface, 1 bone tube, 1 bag of carbonized material, 1 
bag of debitage, 15 bags of faunal material, 2 fire cracked rocks, 2 
modified faunal bones, and 1 whistle) are missing.
    In 1990, human remains representing two individuals were removed 
from Site CA-SAC-16, in Sacramento County, CA, during a test excavation 
project. The Far Western Anthropological Research Group Inc. conducted 
the test excavation. In 1991, the remains were deposited at the 
university. No known individuals were identified. No associated 
funerary objects are present.
    The artifact types and burial practices observed at Site CA-SAC-16 
indicate that it was first occupied during the Middle Horizon, and was 
inhabited into the Historic Period. The presence of rough disk Olivella 
beads and glass trade beads associated with the Hudson Bay fur trappers 
suggests that some burials may date to the 1830s, when an epidemic 
attributed to malaria spread among Native populations along the 
Sacramento River. The lack of archaeological and historical evidence 
for occupation of the site after the epidemic provides circumstantial 
support that the site was abandoned at this time. The surviving 
occupants of the site may have joined with neighboring groups to the 
south (in the vicinity of Sacramento), to the north (Verona), and to 
the east (in the foothills).
    Archeological evidence indicates that the lower Sacramento Valley 
and Delta regions were continuously occupied since at least the Early 
Horizon (5550-550 B.C.). Cultural changes indicated by artifact 
typologies and burial patterns, historical linguistic evidence, and 
biological evidence reveal that the populations in the region were not 
static, with both in situ cultural changes and migrations of outside 
populations into the area. Linguistic evidence suggests that ancestral-
Penutian speaking groups related to modern day Miwok, Nisenan, and 
Patwin groups occupied the region during the Middle (550 B.C.-A.D. 
1100) and Late (A.D. 1100--Historic) Horizons, with some admixing 
between these groups and Hokan-speaking groups that occupied the region 
at an earlier date. The genetic data suggests that the Penutians may 
have arrived later than suggested by the linguistic evidence.
    Geographical data from ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources 
indicate that the site was most likely occupied by Nisenan-speaking 
groups at the beginning of the Historic Period, while Patwin-speakers 
occupied the valley west of the Sacramento River and Miwok-speakers 
resided south of the American River. Ethnographic data and expert 
testimony from the tribal representatives support the high level of 
interaction between groups in the lower Sacramento Valley and Delta 
regions that crosscut linguistic boundaries. Historic population 
movements resulted in an increased level of shifting among populations, 
especially among the Miwok and Nisenan, who were impacted by disease 
and Euro-American activities relating to Sutter's Fort and later gold-
rush activities.
    In summary, officials of California State University, Sacramento, 
together with the University's College of Social Sciences and 
Interdisciplinary Studies Committee on Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act Compliance (SSIS NAGPRA Committee), 
reasonably believe that the ethnographic, historical, and geographical 
evidence indicates that the historic burials and cultural items 
recovered from Site CA-SAC-16 are most closely affiliated with 
contemporary descendants of the Nisenan, and have more distant ties to 
neighboring groups, such as the Plains Miwok. Furthermore, the earlier 
cultural items from the Middle and Late Horizons share cultural 
relations with the Nisenan and Plains Miwok based on archeological, 
biological, and historical linguistic evidence.
    Officials of California State University, Sacramento, have 
determined, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
above represent a minimum of 123 individuals of Native American 
ancestry. Officials of California State University, Sacramento, also 
have determined, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), that the 3,451 
objects described above are reasonably believed to have been placed 
with or near individual human remains at the time of death or later as 
part of the death rite or ceremony. Lastly, officials of California 
State University, Sacramento,

[[Page 14054]]

have determined, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), that there is a 
relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced 
between the Native American human remains and associated funerary 
objects and the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; 
Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California; Shingle Springs Band of Miwok 
Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California; United 
Auburn Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria of California; and 
Wilton Rancheria, California, as well as the non-Federally recognized 
Indian groups of the El Dorado Miwok Tribe and Nashville-El Dorado 
Miwok.
    Representatives of any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Charles Gossett, Dean of the College of Social 
Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, CSUS, 6000 J St., Sacramento, 
CA 95819-6109, telephone: (916) 278-6504, before April 14, 2011. 
Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects to 
the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; Ione Band of 
Miwok Indians of California; Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, 
Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California; United Auburn 
Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria of California; and Wilton 
Rancheria, California, may proceed after that date if no additional 
claimants come forward.
    California State University, Sacramento, is responsible for 
notifying the Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; 
Cortina Indian Rancheria of Wintun Indians of California; Ione Band of 
Miwok Indians of California; Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, 
Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California; United Auburn 
Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria of California; Wilton 
Rancheria, California; and Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, California, as 
well as the non-federally recognized Indian groups of the El Dorado 
Miwok Tribe and Nashville-El Dorado Miwok that this notice has been 
published.

    Dated: March 9, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-5875 Filed 3-14-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P