Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA, 46704-46705 [2020-16782]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• National Park Service

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 149 (Monday, August 3, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46704-46705]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-16782]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0030585; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]


Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: California State 
University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: California State University, Sacramento, in consultation with 
the appropriate Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations, has 
determined that the cultural items listed in this notice meet the 
definition of unassociated funerary objects. Lineal descendants or 
representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization not 
identified in this notice that wish to claim these cultural items 
should submit a written request to the California State University, 
Sacramento. If no additional claimants come forward, transfer of 
control of the cultural items to the lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, 
or Native Hawaiian organizations stated in this notice may proceed.

DATES: Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or 
Native Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to 
claim these cultural items should submit a written request with 
information in support of the claim to the California State University, 
Sacramento at the address in this notice by September 2, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Dr. Dianne Hyson, Dean of the College of Social Sciences and 
Interdisciplinary
    Studies, California State University, Sacramento, 6000 J Street 
Sacramento, CA 95819, telephone (916) 278-6504, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is here given in accordance with the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 
U.S.C. 3005, of the intent to repatriate cultural items under the 
control of the California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento, CA 
that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects under 25 
U.S.C. 3001.
    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 cultural items. The National Park Service is not responsible 
for the determinations in this notice.

History and Description of the Cultural Item(s)

    Sometime during the 1920s and 1930s, 42 unassociated funerary 
objects were removed from a burial on private property, CA-SAC-157 
(Wamser Mound), located on the south bank of the American River, near 
River Bend Park of Rancho Cordova, in north-central Sacramento County, 
CA. The unassociated funerary objects were in the possession of Anthony 
Zallio, a private collector, who posthumously donated his collection in 
1951 to the Department of Anthropology at Sacramento State College, CA 
(now California State University, Sacramento). The 42 unassociated 
funerary objects are one broken bone tube, one small foot of a harpoon, 
one reworked obsidian biface, and 39 shell ornaments of various styles. 
(California State University, Sacramento does not have control of the 
associated human remains, and does not know their whereabouts.)
    Archeological data from the site indicates occupation occurred 
during the Middle and Late Horizons and terminated sometime during the 
historic period. 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. Ethnographic 
data and expert testimony from Indian Tribes support the high level of 
interaction between groups in the lower Sacramento Valley and Delta 
regions that crosscut linguistic boundaries. In summary, the 
ethnographic, historical, and geographical evidence indicate that the 
funerary objects listed above are most closely affiliated with 
contemporary descendants of the Nisenan with more distant ties to 
neighboring groups, such as the Miwok.

Determinations Made by the California State University, Sacramento

    Officials of the California State University, Sacramento have 
determined that:
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the 42 cultural items 
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 and are believed, by a preponderance of the 
evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a Native 
American individual.
     Pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of 
shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the 
unassociated funerary

[[Page 46705]]

objects and the Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California and the Wilton 
Rancheria, California.

Additional Requestors and Disposition

    Lineal descendants or representatives of any Indian Tribe or Native 
Hawaiian organization not identified in this notice that wish to claim 
these cultural items should submit a written request with information 
in support of the claim to Dr. Dianne Hyson, Dean of the College of 
Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies, California State 
University, Sacramento, 6000 J Street Sacramento, CA 95819, telephone 
(916) 278-6504, email [email protected], by September 2, 2020. After that 
date, if no additional claimants have come forward, transfer of control 
of the unassociated funerary objects jointly to the Ione Band of Miwok 
Indians of California and the Wilton Rancheria, California may proceed.
    The California State University, Sacramento is responsible for 
notifying the Ione Band of Miwok Indians of California and the Wilton 
Rancheria, California that this notice has been published.

    Dated: July 6, 2020.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2020-16782 Filed 7-31-20; 8:45 am]
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