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 its inventory or related records. The National Park Service is not responsible for the determinations in this notice.

Abstract of Information Available

Human remains, representing at least one individual, have been identified from the Red Rock Canyon Rockshelter (CA-KER-147/AVC-12) site. The two lots of associated funerary objects are one lot of shell beads and one lot of flaked stone. The site located in Red Rock Canyon State Park on the western edge of the Mojave Desert, Kern County. The site was recorded by Alex Apostolides in 1963 and was designated trinomial CA-KER-147. This site was excavated by Roger W. Robinson, Antelope Valley College (AVC) in April 1973. The site was mapped, collected and tested under the auspices of the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Work at the site was initiated after a report of vandalism that included the disturbance of human burials. The project was designed to stabilize the vandalized area, discourage further vandalism, and determine the age, extent, and content of the site deposit. In 2009, Mark Q. Sutton, Roger W. Robinson and Jill Gardner published “Excavations at the Red Rock Canyon Rockshelter (CA-KER-147), Western Mojave Desert, California”. This is the final report published on the 1973 excavations. The publication states that the human remains recovered from the site were repatriated by State Parks in 2008. The site chronology was addressed by several means, including radiocarbon dating, obsidian hydration, and the use of temporally diagnostic artifacts such as projectile points, shell and glass beads, and ceramics. A radiocarbon assay of 630 ± 90 years BP was obtained on charcoal from a possible hearth. No hazardous substances are known to have been used to treat any of the human remains.

Human remains, representing at least one individual, have been identified from Bakersfield (CA-KER-676/AVC-176) site. The one lot of associated funerary objects are one lot of shell beads and shell fragments. The site located southwest of the city of Bakersfield, Kern County, was exposed by a storm in December 1977. Extensive local media coverage, including publication of the site's location and an invitation for public viewing, resulted in extensive vandalism. In March 1978, an emergency salvage excavation was conducted over a three-day weekend under the direction of Bob Schiffman (Bakersfield College) and Roger Robinson (Antelope Valley College). The human remains were transferred to Andy Greene, a Nüwa (Kawaiisu) elder living in Tehachapi, California. In 2025, Robinson returned collection materials to AVC, which included human remains and documentation, which permitted site provenience to be determined. There are no known publications or chronometric data from the site. No hazardous substances are known to have been used to treat any of the human remains.

Archaeologists have asserted that both the Kitanemuk and Kawaiisu peoples have continuously occupied and used areas on the northwestern and northern margins of the Antelope Valley for at least the past 2500 years BP. Ethnographic evidence documents that the Kitanemuk and the Kawaiisu were known to hunt, gather, and trade together, and they also intermarried. It is highly likely that the two territories overlapped. Linguistic sources demonstrate a strong continuous shared group identity between these ancestral populations and present-day Native American communities of Kitanemuk, Serrano and Tataviam descent. Traditional knowledge identifies the northwestern Antelope Valley as the ancestral homeland of Kitanemuk and Kawaiisu peoples since time immemorial. Based on this evidence and consultation with representatives of the Tejon Indian Tribe and 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.

Cultural Affiliation

Based on the information available and the results of consultation, cultural affiliation is reasonably identified by the geographical location or acquisition history of the human remains and associated funerary objects described in this notice. The following types of information were used to reasonably trace the relationship: anthropological information, archaeological information, geographical information, folkloric, historical, kinship, linguistic, oral traditional, and expert opinion, including Tribal Traditional Knowledge.

Determinations

AVC has determined that:

• The human remains described in this notice represent the physical remains of at least two individuals of Native American ancestry.
• The three lots of objects described in this notice are reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near individual human remains at the time of death or later as part of the death rite or ceremony.
• There is a reasonable connection between the cultural items described in this notice and the Tejon Indian Tibe.

Requests for Repatriation

Written requests for repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects in this notice must be sent to the authorized representative identified in this notice under 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. ( printed page 72900)

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 an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization with cultural affiliation.

Repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects described in this notice to a requestor may occur on or after December 14, 2026. If competing requests for repatriation are received, AVC must determine the most appropriate requestor prior to repatriation. Requests for joint repatriation of the human remains and associated funerary objects are considered a single request and not competing requests. AVC is responsible for sending a copy of this notice to the Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations identified in this notice and any other consulting parties.

Authority: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.10.

91 FR 72899