[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 170 (Thursday, September 1, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54485-54486]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-22426]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[2253-665]


Notice of Inventory Completion: Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of 
Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University 
of California, Berkeley, has completed an inventory of human remains 
and associated funerary objects, in consultation with the appropriate 
Indian tribes, and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation 
between the human remains and associated funerary objects and present-
day Indian tribes. Representatives of any Indian tribe that believes 
itself to be culturally affiliated with the human remains and 
associated funerary objects may contact the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of 
Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Repatriation of 
the human remains and associated funerary objects to the Indian tribes 
stated below may occur if no additional claimants come forward.

DATES: Representatives of any Indian tribe that wishes to claim a 
cultural affiliation with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at 
the University of California, Berkeley, at the address below by October 
3, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Anthony Garcia, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, 
UC Berkeley, 103 Kroeber Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3712, telephone (510) 
643-5283.

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 and 
associated funerary objects in the possession of the Phoebe A. Hearst 
Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, CA. 
The human remains and associated funerary objects were removed from 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.

Consultation

    A detailed assessment of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects was made by the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the 
University of California, Berkeley, in consultation with 
representatives of the Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu Indians of 
California; Buena Vista Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; 
Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians; Cortina Indian Rancheria of Wintun 
Indians of California; California Valley Miwok Tribe, California; Cher-
Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria, California; 
Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; Enterprise 
Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California; Greenville Rancheria of Maidu 
Indians of California; Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California; 
Jackson Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of California; Mooretown Rancheria 
of Maidu Indians of California; Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, 
Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California; Tuolumne Band of 
Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria of California; United Auburn 
Indian Community of the Auburn Rancheria of California; Washoe Tribe of 
Nevada & California; Wilton Rancheria, California; and Yocha Dehe 
Wintun Nation, California (hereinafter ``The Tribes''). The Phoebe A. 
Hearst Museum of Anthropology has also consulted with the Miwok Tribe 
of the El Dorado Rancheria, a non-Federally recognized Indian Group.
    Pursuant to an October 4, 2010, claim by the Shingle Springs Band 
of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California, 
the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology has completed a review of 
its previously

[[Page 54486]]

submitted Culturally Unidentifiable Inventory of human remains and 
associated funerary objects for this site. This review was based on 
additional information submitted by the tribe on behalf of its claim, 
as well as additional research on the Museum's collections of 
documentary and physical evidence. As a result, the Museum has revised 
its original determination that the human remains and associated 
funerary objects described in this notice were culturally 
unidentifiable, and has determined them to be culturally affiliated. In 
addition, the review has resulted in other changes to the inventory. 
First, it has been determined that there were two catalog numbers 
listed that are not currently found in the collection, thereby reducing 
the catalog numbers for the remains to 32. Second, both the number of 
individuals and associated funerary objects has changed. The minimum 
number of individuals changed from 46 to 51, and the number of 
associated funerary objects changed from 117 individual objects to 18 
lots of objects.

History and Description of the Remains

    Between January 1, 1936, and December 31, 1937, human remains 
representing a minimum of 51 individuals were collected from CA-Sac-16, 
in Sacramento County, CA. The excavation was conducted by Sacramento 
Junior College, and the materials were taken to Sacramento Junior 
College at that time. Between 1940 to 1942, human remains were brought 
from Sacramento Junior College to the museum (represented by the 
catalog numbers 1-238637, 1-238524, 12-8069, 12-6651, 12-6652, 12-6990, 
12-11171, 12-11172). Additional human remains were donated by 
Sacramento Junior College to Gila Pueblo in 1948, and subsequently were 
transferred to the museum (represented by the catalog numbers 12-7769, 
12-7770, 12-7773, 12-7774, 12-7775, 12-7776, 12-7777, 12-7805, 12-7806, 
12-7807, 12-7809, 12-7811, 12-7817, 12-7838, 12-7839, 12-7858, 12-7861, 
12-7875, 12-7876, 12-7898, 12-7905, 12-7907, 12-7908, 12-7909). No 
known individuals were identified. The 18 associated funerary objects 
(representing 18 catalog numbers) are 8 lots of beads, 1 bead fragment, 
1 blade, 1 hook, 2 lots of ornaments, 1 projectile point, 1 abalone 
shell, 1 deer tooth, 1 lot of acorn fragments, and 1 baked clay object.
    As previously reported, the overall CA-Sac-16 site appears to 
represent roughly 2,800 years of human occupation between the Middle 
Horizon and Euro-American contact in the Central Valley of California. 
Additional research has now revealed that three of the 32 cataloged 
human skeletal remains for CA-Sac-16 (12-8069, 12-6651, and 12-6652) 
may be placed chronologically within the Late Horizon based on an 
assessment of the directly associated artifacts. Human skeletal remains 
associated with the remaining 29 catalog numbers cannot currently be 
placed chronologically or stratigraphically due to lack of provenience 
documentation, potential comingling of burials during original 
acquisition, and lack of associated temporal markers or radiometric 
determinations. These remains were originally reported in the museum's 
inventory as ``culturally unidentifiable.''
    The consultation and research conducted as a result of the Shingle 
Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona 
Tract), California's request to the Museum for re-assessment of 
cultural affiliation included a detailed study of the entire collection 
of 453 temporally diagnostic artifacts (largely projectile points and 
beads) recovered from the site during recovery of the human remains. 
That study has demonstrated that 97% of these artifacts are 
chronologically attributable to the Late Horizon, and has established a 
shared group identity between The Tribes (as well as the Miwok Tribe of 
the El Dorado Rancheria, a non-Federally recognized Indian Group), and 
the earlier identifiable group represented by the Late Horizon human 
remains and associated funerary objects in the CA-SAC-16 assemblage 
inventoried herein. Further confirmation of this cultural affiliation 
is the correspondence of CA-Sac-16 to the ethnohistorically described 
village of Nawrean. A full review of the collections has failed to 
identify any evidence of earlier remains in the holdings from CA-SAC-
16. Therefore, cultural affiliation with extant tribes which occupied 
this area aboriginally can now be established by a preponderance of the 
evidence.

Determinations Made by the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at 
the University of California, Berkeley

    Officials of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the 
University of California, Berkeley, have determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(9), the human remains described 
in this notice most likely represent the physical remains of 51 
individuals of Native American ancestry.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(A), the 18 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.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), 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 Tribes, 
and the Miwok Tribe of the El Dorado Rancheria, a non-Federally 
recognized Indian Group.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Representatives from any other Indian tribe that believes itself to 
be culturally affiliated with the human remains and associated funerary 
objects should contact Dr. Anthony Garcia, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of 
Anthropology, UC Berkeley, 103 Kroeber Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3712, 
telephone (510) 643-5283, before October 3, 2011. Repatriation of the 
human remains and associated funerary objects to The Tribes may proceed 
after that date if no additional claimants come forward.
    The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of 
California, Berkeley, is responsible for notifying The Tribes, and the 
Miwok Tribe of the El Dorado Rancheria, a non-Federally recognized 
Indian Group, that this notice has been published.

    Dated: August 29, 2011.
Sherry Hutt,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2011-22426 Filed 8-31-11; 8:45 am]
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