2024-04453. Notice of Inventory Completion: Fowler Museum at the University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Fowler Museum at the University of California Los Angeles (Fowler Museum at UCLA), 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. The human remains were removed from Orange County, CA.

DATES:

Repatriation of the human remain in this notice may occur on or after April 3, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

Michael Chavez, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Box 951549, Los Angeles, CA 90095–1549, telephone [phone], email [e-mail].

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 Fowler Museum at UCLA. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice. Additional information on the determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the inventory or related records held by the Fowler Museum at UCLA.

Description

Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed from Orange County, CA. The ancestor was transferred from Catherine Asper to Renatta Russell in 1975 along with a typed letter stating that they were found on a golf course in Aliso Beach. Russell then mailed the ancestor to Dr. Berger, Director of the UCLA Radiocarbon Laboratory in 1976. In 1994 after UCLA closed the Laboratory many of the collections were transferred to UC Riverside's Radiocarbon Laboratory. In 2019, after the retirement of Professor Erwin Taylor, UCR inventoried all the materials and returned collections to UCLA including this ancestral remain, assigned catalog number PC#618A. In 2021 UCLA determined that there was sufficient reason to assume control and in consultation with local archaeologists and tribal members that the individual represented by PC#618A may have been taken from ORA–9. No lineal descendant can be determined. No associated funerary objects are present.

Cultural Affiliation

The human remains in this notice are connected to one or more identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures. There is a relationship of shared group identity between the identifiable earlier groups, tribes, peoples, or cultures and one or more Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations. The following types of information were used to reasonably trace the relationship: geographical information and expert opinion.

Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, the Fowler Museum at UCLA has determined that:

• The human remains described in this notice represent the physical remains of one individual of Native American ancestry.
• There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the human remains described in this notice and the Pechanga Band of Indians (previously listed as Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians of the Pechanga Reservation, California).

Requests for Repatriation

Written requests for repatriation of the human remains in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES . Requests for repatriation may be submitted by:

1. Any one or more of the Indian Tribes identified in this notice and, if joined to a request from one or more of the Indian Tribes, the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians Acjachemen Nation—Belardes; Juaneno Band of Mission Indians Acjachemen Nation 84A; and the Gabrielino/Tongva Nation.

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 a culturally affiliated Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.

Repatriation of the human remains in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after April 3, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Fowler Museum at UCLA 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 Fowler Museum at UCLA is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice.

This notice was submitted before the effective date of the revised regulations (88 FR 86452, December 13, 2023, effective January 12, 2024). As the notice conforms to the mandatory format of the Federal Register and includes the required information, the National Park Service is publishing this notice as submitted.

Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.

Dated: February 23, 2024.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.