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 California State University, Sacramento. 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 California State University, Sacramento.

Description

Human remains representing, at minimum, one individual, were removed from Cave Man Cave, in Tuolumne County, CA. The documentation associated with these ancestral remains is limited. Possibly, Louis Payen collected the human remains in the 1960s, during his cave survey work in the vicinity. In 2022, the University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside) informed California State University, Sacramento that human remains from Cave Man Cave were at UC Riverside and were believed to be under the control of California State University, Sacramento. (It is not known who sent these human remains to UC Riverside or when, but they were likely sent for radiocarbon dating.) In June of 2022, these human remains were returned to California State University, Sacramento. 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: anthropological, archeological, geographical, historical, and expert opinion.

Determinations

Pursuant to NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, and after consultation with the appropriate Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, the California State University, Sacramento 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 in this notice and the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk Indians of 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 July 17, 2023. If competing requests for repatriation are received, California State University, Sacramento must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains are considered a single request ( printed page 39455) and not competing requests. California State University, Sacramento 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.

88 FR 39454