College District Moves to Return Ancestors and a Funerary Object
Published Date: 6/17/2025
Notice
Summary
Los Rios Community College District found human remains and a funerary object from Native American ancestors during a 2024 campus audit. These items, taken decades ago from sites in Santa Barbara County, are now ready to be returned to the affiliated tribes starting July 17, 2025. This respectful repatriation honors Native heritage and follows important legal steps, with no costs or hazards involved.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Repatriation available starting July 17, 2025
Human remains of three Native American individuals and one associated funerary object (a stone mano) are scheduled to be returned to an affiliated tribe or descendant. Repatriation may occur on or after July 17, 2025; the remains were located in 2024 during a campus audit and were removed decades earlier from Santa Barbara County (one site dated likely 1937 and another removed before 1941).
Santa Ynez Band identified as affiliated
Los Rios Community College District determined there is a reasonable cultural affiliation between the remains and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians of the Santa Ynez Reservation, California. That identified tribe is explicitly named as an eligible requestor for repatriation.
Who may request repatriation and competing claims
Repatriation requests may be submitted by any one or more of the tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations named in the notice, or by lineal descendants or other tribes/organizations that show cultural affiliation by a preponderance of the evidence. If competing requests are received, the Los Rios Community College District must determine the most appropriate requestor before repatriation.
No record of hazardous treatment of remains
Los Rios Community College District reports it does not have records showing the human remains or the associated funerary object were treated with potentially hazardous substances. The items were found during a 2024 campus-wide audit of collections.
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Previous: 2025-11145, Notice of Inventory Completion: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
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