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 AVC, 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 two lots of cultural items have been requested for repatriation. The two lots of objects of cultural patrimony include 17 boxes of flaked stone and ground stone. The Lovejoy Springs (CA-LAN-192/AVC-174) site is located along a series of buttes on the floor of the southeastern Antelope Valley, north of the San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County. Between 1994 and 1996, Roger W. Robinson, Consulting Archaeologist and Professor of Anthropology at AVC, along with a group of his students and volunteers, performed several site inspections on behalf of the LA County Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and monitored construction of the original Lake Los Angeles Community Park (now Stephen Sorensen Park). All recovered materials were catalogued, and a report was produced (Robinson 1996). No hazardous substances are known to have been used to treat any of the cultural items.

The site has been investigated numerous times (see Price et al. 2009). Based on these excavations, archaeologists have determined Lovejoy Springs was occupied as early as 2525 BC (4000 BP) during the Gypsum Period and through the Late Prehistoric Period (cal A.D. 1100-1769) (Price et al. 2009:182-184). The deep midden deposits, an extensive quantity of milling implements, and a cemetery suggests it was a major village location (Mason et al. 2018:30; Sutton 2016).

Archaeologists have asserted that Serrano peoples have continuously occupied the San Gabriel Mountains and the surrounding areas for up to 5,000-6,000 years BP. Linguistic sources demonstrate a strong continuous shared group identity between those people and modern Native Americans of Serrano descent Golla (2011). Ethnographic evidence and Traditional Knowledge document the Antelope Valley region as home to Serrano peoples since time immemorial (Earle 1990, 2005). These records, combined with communication and consultation with representatives of the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation (previously listed as the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians) and non-federally recognized California Tribes including the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and the San Fernando Band of Mission Indians, these individuals are Native American.

Determinations

AVC has determined that:

• The two lots of 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 reasonable 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). ( printed page 57366)

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 October 9, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, AVC 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 AVC 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 57365