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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 168 (Thursday, August 31, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60234-60235]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-18817]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Park Service

[NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0036488; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

Notice of Inventory Completion: Autry Museum of the American 
West, Los Angeles, CA

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the Autry Museum of the American West has 
completed an inventory of human remains and associated funerary objects 
and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the 
human remains and associated funerary objects and Indian Tribes or 
Native Hawaiian organizations in this notice. The human remains and 
associated funerary objects were removed from San Luis Obispo County, 
CA.

DATES: Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary 
objects in this notice may occur on or after October 2, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Karimah Richardson, M.Phil., RPA, Associate Curator of 
Anthropology and Repatriation Supervisor, Autry Museum of the American 
West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles, CA 90027, telephone (323) 
495-4203, email [email protected].

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 
Autry Museum of the American West. 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 Autry Museum of the American West.

Description

    At an unknown date, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed by Mrs. Gladys Knight Harris, a cultural 
anthropologist from Santa Barbara County, CA, from an unknown site on 
Morro Bay in San Luis Obispo County, CA. In 1983, Mrs. Knight Harris 
donated these human remains, together with associated funerary objects, 
to the Southwest Museum. The human remains, which consist of a 
mandible, belong to an adult of undetermined sex. The 26 associated 
funerary objects are 10 shell fragments, six faunal bone fragments, one 
lot consisting of ochre fragments, and nine shell beads.
    Sometime around 1967, human remains representing, at minimum, one 
individual were removed by Mr. Robert Henze from an unknown site at 
Ragged Point, located 15 miles north of San Simeon, in San Luis Obispo 
County, CA. Mr. Henze had found these human remains eroding from Ragged 
Point, and in 1972, he donated them to the Southwest Museum. The human 
remains, which consist of a cranium and a mandible, belong to an adult 
(probably female) between 35 and 50 years old. The one associated 
funerary object is a lot consisting of soil.
    Based on the associated funerary objects, the Autry Museum has 
determined that these human remains belong to a Native American burial. 
Moreover, the presence of red ochre, which is a hallmark of Chumash and 
nearby southern California tribal funerary practice, supports an 
identification of this burial as Northern Chumash or Salinan.

Cultural Affiliation

    The human remains and associated funerary objects 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, historical, and oral 
traditional.

Determinations

    Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after 
consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, the Autry Museum of the American Indian has determined 
that:
     The human remains described in this notice represent the 
physical

[[Page 60235]]

remains of two individuals of Native American ancestry.
     The 27 objects described in this notice 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.
     There is a relationship of shared group identity that can 
be reasonably traced between the human remains and associated funerary 
objects described in this notice and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash 
Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California.

Requests for Repatriation

    Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and 
associated funerary objects 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 and associated funerary objects 
in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after October 2, 2023. If 
competing requests for repatriation are received, the Autry Museum of 
the American West must determine the most appropriate requestor prior 
to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains 
and associated funerary objects are considered a single request and not 
competing requests. The Autry Museum of the American West 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 10.9, 10.10, 
and 10.14.

    Dated: August 23, 2023.
Melanie O'Brien,
Manager, National NAGPRA Program.
[FR Doc. 2023-18817 Filed 8-30-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4312-52-P
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