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 Field Museum, 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 96 cultural items have been requested for repatriation. The four unassociated funerary objects are a bowl, a knapper, a chisel, and a basket. The eight sacred objects are four mortars and pestles, two bowls, one medicine, and one feather headband. The 84 objects of cultural patrimony are 47 baskets, 16 basket caps, eight lots of basket materials, three water containers, two meal brushes, two arrow planes, one bow and arrows, one mortar and pestle, one knapper set, one cradle frame, one ball, and one tray. All of the cultural items were removed from various sites in Kern County, California. In 1894, Edward E. Ayer donated three of the baskets to the Field Museum. In 1901, 1902, and 1904, on behalf of the Field Museum, Dr. John Hudson collected 66 of the cultural items on expeditions among the Native populations of California. The Museum accessioned those items during the same years they were collected. In 1920, 1921, 1929, and 1937, Homer E. Sargent donated 27 of the cultural items from his personal collection to the Museum.

Determinations

The Field Museum has determined that:

• The four unassociated funerary objects described in this notice are reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near human remains, and is 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 objects have 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 eight sacred objects described in this notice are specific ceremonial objects needed by a traditional Native American religious leader for present-day adherents to practice traditional Native American religion, according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization.
• The 84 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 Tejon Indian Tribe.

Requests for Repatriation

Additional, written requests for repatriation of the cultural items in this notice must be sent to the authorized ( printed page 66719) 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 November 23, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, the Field Museum 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 Field Museum 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 66718