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 LACMNH, and additional information on the determinations in this notice, including the results of consultation, can be found in the summary or related records. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

A total of 23 cultural items have been requested for repatriation, including one unassociated funerary object and 22 objects of cultural patrimony.

The one unassociated funerary object is an urn removed from the Cajon Pass area of San Bernardino County in 1955 by Ike Stoddard, who described it as, “Plainware olla, formerly held a skeleton”. The urn was donated to LACMNH by Ted Stoddard in 1956.

A total of 12 objects of cultural patrimony include lots of worked steatite, asphaltum, shell, faunal remains, floral remains, worked lithics, one tarring pebble, one incised tablet, one striated stone, one stone weight and two perforated stones. These items were removed from the Nestor Young Ranch at Barrel Springs, located near Palmdale in Los Angeles County. Nestor Young owned the ranch from 1913 to 1921 and conducted excavations in the vicinity. Sometime between 1947 and 1948, Young sold his collection to the Hancock Foundation Anthropology Lab, a now disbanded museum once part of the University of Southern California. In 1966, the Hancock Foundation Anthropology Lab collection was loaned to LACMNH and then in 1983 the collection was transferred as a gift to LACMNH.

A total of five objects of cultural patrimony are pestles, projectile points, and ocher. These items were removed from Lovejoy Springs and Anaverde in the Antelope Valley region of Los Angeles County by Carl D. Hegner. They ( printed page 33743) were donated to LACMNH by the Native Daughters of the Golden West, Tijera Parlor Chapter in 1971.

A total of four objects of cultural patrimony are a wooden tool fragment, twined bag fragment, twined basket fragments, and a large incomplete coiled basket broken into pieces. They were removed in 1920 by Frank Mitchell from a cave at Vasquez Rocks, Los Angeles County, and donated to LACMNH by John Dewar in 1973.

A total of one object of cultural patrimony is a mortar removed from Lytle Creek Wash, San Bernardino County, in 1938 by Charles A. Smith and donated to LACMNH in 1972.

Determinations

The LACMNH has determined that:

• The one unassociated funerary object described in this notice is reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near human remains, and are connected, either at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony of a Native American culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. The unassociated funerary object has been identified by a preponderance of the evidence as related to human remains, specific individuals, or families, or removed from a specific burial site or burial area of an individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
• The 22 objects of cultural patrimony described in this notice have ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native American group, including any constituent sub-group (such as a band, clan, lineage, ceremonial society, or other subdivision), according to the Native American traditional knowledge of an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
• There is a connection between the cultural items described in this notice and the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation (previously listed as San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, California).

Requests for Repatriation

Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified in this notice under 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 July 6, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the LACMNH 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 LACMNH is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice and to any other consulting parties.

Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3004 and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.9.

91 FR 33742