Greetings everyone,

This is an update of the activities of the Scotts Valley Display Project Committee from January to April 2025. On March 7, members of the committee met at Scotts Valley City Hall with Amanda Boesen and Andy Zevallos, who are working with us on the design of the new display.

What is new so far this year?

The Expert Report: Gabe Sanchez and Richie Rosencrance have delivered the final version of their report detailing a new examination of the lithic assemblage from the Scotts Valley Site. They set out to answer the questions: (1) is this assemblage “internally consistent”, that is, were they created at about the same time, or are they a mish-mash of artifacts that ended up together before being deposited at the site? (2) (If consistent) how does this lithic assemblage compare with others in the western United States of about the same age?

In summary, the radiocarbon date on the hearth feature, which is at the same level or above the artifacts, is valid, which establishes the approximate age of the artifacts. The artifacts were fashioned using the same techniques, to create new bifaces and projectile points and refurbish others, by people who lived here at this time. They are “internally consistent”.

Secondly, the researchers compared the artifacts to those found in sites along the southern Oregon coast, where archaeologists found lithic artifacts created using similar techniques. Additionally, they agreed with Cartier (1993) that the bifaces and points found in Scotts Valley resembled the Cascade technology of the greater Oregon, Washington and Great Basin region. The crescent, however, is an outlier. It may be far older than the other artifacts found at the level of or below the hearth feature, but might be a continuation of the older Western Stemmed Tradition. In either case, the lithic technology of the Scotts Valley Site fits within the broader western North America technologies of the early-mid Holocene.

The Artifact Casts: One of the essential features of the new display are reproductions of the original artifacts. As of this meeting, we have found no written agreements between Al Schwitalla, who has produced the replicas, and Rob Edwards. Kevin Hildreth and Diane Gifford-Gonzalez reconstructed the agreement, and Al has agreed to this and how much SCAS still owes him for his work. We shall pay him the agreed upon $1,275.00 which includes $500 for a set of professional photographs.

We now have all the artifact replica sets that Al agreed to make. The most recently received sets were made of colored epoxy unlike the first set, which was uncolored.

All of the artifact casts were brought to the meeting (see photo) including some of the original, uncolored set, which have been painted by Alicia Goode and Andy Zevallos (see update from 10/24/24). We will display the painted artifact replicas. UCSC and SCAS have one set each of the new colored replicas.

Fishnet for the exhibit:

We want to interpret the fishing net weight by displaying it with a small amount of traditionally made netting. Mike Bonillas, a citizen of the Tamien Nation, has agreed to produce the netting but he does not have access to the traditional material (dogbane) for the netting and asked for our help to locate it. Julie Edwards has been in contact with Linda Yamane, who is also a basket weaver and may be able to help us acquire the material.

After the meeting, and with SCAS Board permission, Andy Zevallos took four of the artifacts back to his and Alicia Goode’s workplace in order to facilitate the design of the ground stone display.

The Exhibit text:  We are close to completing the text needed for the exhibits. Afterwards, we want to share the draft text with the Amah Mutsun for their feedback.

We discussed getting texts, YouTube, and other links for the website, for which Amanda has already set up a QR code.

References Cited

Cartier, Robert (Ed.)

1993      The Scotts Valley Site: CA-SCr-177.  A Monograph Published by: The Santa Cruz Archaeological Society.

Rosencrance, Richard L. and Gabriel M. Sanchez

2025      Bifacial Technology at the Scotts Valley Site (CA-SCR-177) is Consistent with Early Lithic Technologies from the Far West. (Unpublished)