Dudek recently completed a cultural resources sensitivity study for the City of Santa Cruz. In addition to compiling information for all archaeological reports and recorded sites within the City limits, we developed a sensitivity model for predicting the locations of past activities. The sensitivity model considered variables such as distance to water, slope, and soil type and provided some surprising results when compared with the existing record. This study has implications for understanding prehistoric and historic land use in the Santa Cruz area and can also be used to interpret or predict more regional trends along California’s Central Coast. Continue reading →

Foster will present a broad overview of underwater archaeology in California and beyond. Using such examples as Manila galleons, Spanish frigates, Steel-hulled passenger steamers, and WWII tankers, he will describe how archaeology is done in the underwater environment and why it’s important to understand and conserve maritime cultural resources. Underwater sites can produce amazing preservation conditions and important heritage information. It’s been said that the aqueous environment contains the greatest repository of human cultural heritage on earth. New technological advances are making these sites accessible, so what will be the future of the underwater past?

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CA-YOL-249 offered a unique opportunity to investigate a previously unidentified, largely undisturbed, Early Middle Period cemetery site in the Sacramento region. Excavations by Archeo-Tec in 2016-2017 utilized modern field techniques and laboratory technologies to interpret the physical record. In advance of a formal project publication, this talk by Project Manager, Juliana Quist, will present an overview of the site using radiocarbon dating, lithic analysis, osteology, and comprehensive mortuary analysis, and this information will provide valuable contributions to the body of archaeological knowledge of the region.

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Santa Teresa Springs in South San Jose was once the convergence of oak woodlands and marsh as well as home to Ohlone Thámien-speaking tribal groups. Construction activities in the early 1970s uncovered skeletal remains and artifacts that were recovered by West Valley College, San Jose State University, and local high school volunteers. The collection (CA-SCL-125) sat for decades before being dusted off and analyzed. Come and learn about ’Arma ’Ayttakiš Rúmmey-tak (“Place of the Spirit Woman Spring Site”).

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Within California archaeology, paleoethnobotany—the study of plant remains—has most commonly been applied to pre-colonial contexts. However, much can be learned by using paleoethnobotany to study the post-contact period, particularly in examining questions of landscape change and Indigenous resilience. Continue reading →

Archaeological investigations at Mission San José in Fremont, California, have revealed large areas of the mission landscape. Of particular importance are several projects conducted in the mission’s Native American neighborhood, where archaeologists have documented the remnants of two adobe dwellings and other features. Continue reading →

California State Parks, in collaboration with Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, is currently restoring the Rancho San Andrés Castro Adobe, Watsonville, California. Because preservation in place was not feasible as mitigation for the impacts to this significant historical resource, Albion Environmental, Inc. designed and executed a plan for data recovery. These recent excavations suggest that the Castro Adobe represents Mexican Period rancho architecture, with cobble foundations, adobe walls, and a prepared adobe floor. In particular, the assemblage included artifacts likely related to indigenous practices, providing a lens into understanding the often undocumented experiences of indigenous rancho laborers. This research highlights that the Castro Adobe was used by the diverse community living and working at Rancho San Andrés, illustrating the very public nature of adobe structures during the Mexican Rancho Period.

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The Levuka Cultural Landscape Project was designed to support the Fiji National Trust’s efforts to nominate the colonial capitol site of Levuka to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. It ran from 2002 to 2010, with the nomination succeeding in 2013. Designed as a community-based participatory geographic information systems (GIS) project, this collaborative project recorded a wide variety of sites, structures, and places important to local residents. Conventional archaeological sites formed only one component of this larger cultural landscape. Continue reading →

Dr. Pryor will discuss a new type of archeology that he has been developing over the last several years through insights from CSU-Fresno’s Archaeological Field School at the Grandad site in the central Sierra Nevada. In 2016, the insight was that the archaeology he had practiced for 45 years was no longer working for him, and that it was time to create a whole new archaeology that blended the best of Western Science with Native American perspectives and traditions. Continue reading →

Three consecutive shipwrecks occurring along the rocky coast of Año Nuevo State Park between 1865 and 1867 resulted in the loss of many passengers and sailors as their sailing ships miscalculated their positions and “struck the rocks.” Many of the victims were buried in a small area of sand dunes at Franklin Point that has since been designated as archaeological site SMA-307/H. In response to these maritime tragedies, Pigeon Point Lighthouse was built in 1871. This presentation focuses on the histories of the wrecks, the archaeological investigations and findings from the analytical studies, and the methods used to stabilize the cemetery. Continue reading →