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###### Department of the Interior

###### National Park Service

          - [NPS-WASO-NAGPRA-NPS0037218; PPWOCRADN0-PCU00RP14.R50000]

# AGENCY:

National Park Service, Interior.

# ACTION:

Notice.

# SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the University of California, Riverside 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 Chatham County, GA.

# DATES:

Repatriation of the human remains in this notice may occur on or after February 12, 2024.

# ADDRESSES:

                        Megan Murphy, University of California, Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA 92517-5900, telephone (951) 827-6349, email                         *megan.murphy@ucr.edu.*

# 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 University of California, Riverside. 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 University of California, Riverside.

## Description

Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual were removed from Chatham County, GA. In 1983, a partially fossilized human jaw representing one Native American adult individual was removed from the Forest River in Savannah, Georgia by Bobby Schauber, a local bait shrimper, who reportedly found the jaw in his shrimping net after dragging the river bed. Schauber displayed the human remains in a display case at the Coffee Bluff Fishing Camp where it was noticed by members of an amateur archeological society who contacted assistant professor, Clark Larson, at Northern Illinois University. The jaw was subsequently studied at the Center for Study of Early Man, University of Maine under the direction of Robson Bonnichsen. In 1988, Dr. R.E. Taylor, director of the University of California, Riverside Radiocarbon Laboratory, obtained a sample of the individual for radiocarbon dating. The residual sample material was subsequently stored by Dr. Taylor at an off-campus storage facility and never reported to the UCR NAGPRA Program Staff. In February of 2022, the sample from the individual was discovered by NAGPRA Program Staff during a collections inventory. No associated funerary objects were found with the individual.

## 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: archeological information, geographical information, historical information, kinship, oral tradition, and expert opinion.

## Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, the University of California, Riverside 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 Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town; Catawba Indian Nation; Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; Kialegee Tribal Town; Miccosukee Tribe of Indians; Poarch Band of Creek Indians; Seminole Tribe of Florida; The Muscogee (Creek) Nation; The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma; and the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town.

## 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 February 12, 2024. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the University of California, Riverside 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 University of California, Riverside is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations 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: January 4, 2024.

Melanie O'Brien,

Manager, National NAGPRA Program.

[FR Doc. 2024-00433 Filed 1-10-24; 8:45 am]

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