Federal Register, Volume 76 Issue 119 (Tuesday, June 21, 2011)
[Notices]
[Pages 36148-36149]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-15434]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]

Notice of Inventory Completion: Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los 
Angeles, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Fowler Museum at UCLA has completed an inventory of human 
remains, in consultation with the appropriate Indian tribes, and has 
determined that there is no cultural affiliation between the human 
remains and any present-day Indian tribe. Representatives of any Indian 
tribe that believes itself to be culturally affiliated with the human 
remains may contact the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Disposition of the human 
remains to the tribe stated below may occur if no additional requestors 
come forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes it has a 
cultural affiliation with the human remains should contact the Fowler 
Museum at UCLA at the address below by July 21, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Wendy G. Teeter, PhD, Curator of Archaeology, Fowler Museum 
at UCLA, Box 951549, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1549, telephone (310) 825-
1864.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 in the 
possession of the Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. The human 
remain was removed from Humboldt 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) and 
43 CFR 10.11(d). 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. The National Park Service 
is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains was made by the Fowler 
Museum at UCLA professional staff in consultation with representatives 
of the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, California; Blue 
Lake Rancheria, California; Smith River Rancheria, California; Wiyot 
Tribe, California (formerly the Table Bluff Reservation--Wiyot Tribe); 
and the Yurok Tribe of the Yurok Reservation, California. The Wiyot 
Tribe, California, requested the transfer of control of the individual 
described in this notice. The Bear River Band of the Rohnerville 
Rancheria, California, and the Blue Lake Rancheria, California, sent 
letters of support for the transfer of control to the Wiyot Tribe.

History and Description of the Remains

    In the first half of the 20th century, a human remain representing 
one individual was most likely removed from Eureka, Humboldt County, 
CA. The human remain is a mandible from a female. It was found in the 
Bird and Mammal collection of the UCLA Department of Biology and 
subsequently transferred to the Fowler Museum at UCLA. According to the 
Bird and Mammal collection accession records, Loye Miller, a biologist 
who worked in the first half of the 20th century, collected it from an 
unknown person. The human remain is labeled ``W.H.M.M. 313 
Eureka, California.'' ``W.H.M.M.'' stands for the Wellcome Historic 
Medical Museum. A search of the Wellcome archives produced no 
documentation directly related to this remain and the circumstances 
surrounding its excavation or collection are unknown. However, the 
Wellcome Museum did purchase remains from several collectors from the 
Eureka region. Therefore, it is reasonably believed that this 
individual was received from one of these collectors and removed from 
the Humboldt County area. No known individual was identified. No 
associated funerary objects are present.
    Based on the records and condition of the mandible, archeologists 
have determined that the human remain probably comes from a coastal 
shell midden and is of fairly late age. The soil in the redwood forest 
areas of the Humboldt County area is very acidic, and bone does not 
survive long in the ground. However, the calcium carbonate from the 
shells in the shell mounds in the coastal areas helps preserve bone, 
and thus several hundred year-old burials are found in shell mounds in 
the Eureka area. Loud (1918) recorded shell mound sites in Eureka, on 
Indian (Gunther) Island and around the margins of Humboldt Bay, most of 
which have associated Wiyot village place names and burials and have 
been dated to the Late Prehistoric Period between A.D. 700-1100 (Loud 
1918; Heizer & Elsasser 1964; Tushingham 2010).

[[Page 36149]]

Determinations Made by the Fowler Museum at UCLA

    Officials of the Fowler Museum at UCLA have determined that:
     Based on the analysis performed by a physical 
anthropologist it is determined that the mandible is Native American.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), a relationship of shared 
group identity cannot be reasonably traced between the Native American 
human remains and any present-day Indian tribe.
     Multiple lines of evidence, including the Wiyot Tribe's 
1978 Constitution, treaties, Acts of Congress, Executive Orders, and 
other credible lines of evidence obtained through consultation with 
tribal representatives, indicate that the land from which the Native 
American human remain was removed is the aboriginal land of the Wiyot 
people. Present-day Wiyot citizens are enrolled in the following 
Federally-recognized tribes: the Wiyot Tribe, California; Bear River 
Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, California; and Blue Lake Rancheria, 
California.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remain described 
in this notice represents the physical remains of one individual of 
Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1), the disposition of the 
human remain is to the Wiyot Tribe, California.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes itself to be 
culturally affiliated with the human remains or any other Indian tribe 
that believes it satisfies the criteria in 43 CFR 10.11(c)(1) should 
contact Wendy G. Teeter, PhD, Curator of Archaeology, Fowler Museum at 
UCLA, Box 951549, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1549, telephone (310) 825-1864, 
before July 21, 2011. Disposition of the human remain to the Wiyot 
Tribe, California, may proceed after that date if no additional 
requestors come forward.
    The Fowler Museum at UCLA is responsible for notifying the Bear 
River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, California; Blue Lake 
Rancheria, California; Smith River Rancheria, California; Wiyot Tribe, 
California; and the Yurok Tribe of the Yurok Reservation, California, 
that this notice has been published.

    Dated: June 15, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
 Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-15434 Filed 6-20-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-50-P