2023-05728. Notice of Inventory Completion: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA

AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History 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 a location near Big Oak Flat in Tuolumne County, California.

DATES:

Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or after April 20, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

Luke Swetland, President and CEO, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, 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 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. 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 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

Description

Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed from a location near Big Oak Flat in Tuolumne County, California. In 2013, a box labeled “Chumash Skull” and containing a human cranium and mandible was discovered among the items donated by an estate to a thrift store in Ojai, California. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department released the cranial remains to Julie Tumamait-Stenslie, Barbareño/Ventureño Band of Chumash Mission Indians, who in turn transferred them to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Subsequently, an investigation into the thrift store donation by the Ventura County Coroner revealed that these human remains had been in the donor's family for over 100 years, they were removed from a location near Big Oak Flat in Tuolumne County, and they were not Chumash. No known individual was identified. 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, kinship, biological, archeological, linguistic, folkloric, oral traditional, historical, and other information or expert opinion.

Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History 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 Bridgeport Indian Colony; Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation, California; and the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians of the Tuolumne Rancheria of 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 or Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice.

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 20, 2023. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History 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 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes identified in this notice.

Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9, 10.10, and 10.14.

Dated: March 15, 2023.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.