2023-09764. Notice of Intent To Repatriate Cultural Items: Museum of Us, San Diego, CA

AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Museum of Us intends to repatriate certain cultural items that meet the definition of unassociated funerary objects and that have a cultural affiliation with the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The cultural items were removed from Sacramento County, CA.

DATES:

Repatriation of the cultural items in this notice may occur on or after June 8, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

Carmen Mosley, NAGPRA Repatriation Manager, Museum of Us, 1350 El Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA 92101, telephone [phone] Ext. 42, 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 Museum of Us. 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 summary or related records held by the Museum of Us.

Description

Between 1930 and 1936, 190 cultural items were removed from Wamser Mound (CV–10; CA–SAC–157) in Sacramento County, CA, by Henry Gibbs, a private collector and looter. In 1937, Paul A. Walker purchased Gibbs' Central Valley, California archeological collection. Walker was an amateur archeologist and collector who worked by himself and with other amateur archeologists, and in collaboration with the University of California and Sacramento Junior College. Over the course of his life, Walker amassed an extensive archeological collection from California's Central Valley and smaller collections from Northern and Southern California, and outside of California. In 1968, Walker's private archeological collection was acquired by the San Diego Museum of Man (now Museum of Us) through a purchase/donation transaction with Walker's widow, Bessie B. Walker. The 190 unassociated funerary objects are 12 strings of Olivella beads, three strings of clam shell beads, 21 Haliotis pendants, 128 Haliotis ornaments, seven miscellaneous shell ornaments, two faunal teeth, 10 faunal bone fragments, one stone bead, one charmstone fragment, three perforated slate discs, one faunal bone bead, and one bipointed faunal bone artifact.

Cultural Affiliation

The cultural items 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: archeological, geographical, and historical.

Determinations

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

• The 190 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 the specific burial sites of Native American individuals.
• There is a relationship of shared group identity that can be reasonably traced between the cultural items and the Wilton Rancheria, California.

Requests for Repatriation

Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items in this notice must be sent to the Responsible Official identified in ADDRESSES . Requests for repatriation may be submitted by 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 cultural items in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after June 8, 2023. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Museum of Us must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the cultural items are considered a single request and not competing requests. The Museum of Us is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribe identified in this notice.

Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.8, 10.10, and 10.14.

Dated: May 3, 2023.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.