Fall 2004 Excavations at SDI-12510/H
 in Association With the Vallecitos Water District

ANTH 120 Students      ANTH 205 Students

Fall 2004 Excavation Photos

From Fall 2000 through 2002, the Palomar College Archaeology Program conducted excavations at SDI-5581, an Archaic Period site with a Late Prehistoric overlay, located on the Palomar College campus  These excavations have been completed and analytical studies are also nearly complete.  The program coordinator, Dr. Philip de Barros, will be producing a report on these excavations in the Spring 2005.  Meanwhile, the Vallecitos Water District, under the management of its General Manager, Bill Rucker, had been encouraging Palomar College to conduct excavations on several sites situated on Vallecitos Water District Land.  Bill has a passionate interest in archaeology and we came to an agreement that Palomar would commence such excavations in the Fall of 2003.

The Water District has been extremely helpful in facilitating Palomar's field school (ANTH 120 and 205, Beginning and Advanced Excavation).  They have provided a 10 x 20 ft container to store equipment on site, a portable bathroom for students and staff, a water line from the main buildings up to the site so that wet screening of site deposits can be done on-site, and the District also cleared a 5' wide path from the parking lot up to the two sites we will be investigating over the next several years.  The District has also provided aerial photos and other documentation.

These two sites are described below:

SDI-12510/H:  The prehistoric component of this site is an Archaic (Millingstone) Period site  The historic component consists of a surface scatter of relatively recent historic artifacts.  The prehistoric component measures 100 x 75 m.  Its scientific significance was evaluated by Gallegos and Associates (1994) using limited test excavations consisting of surface collections, the recording of four milling features, and the excavation of two 1 x 1 m test units and 19 shovel test pits (STPs).  The effort produced 1,022 flakes (waste flakes or debitage), 17 modified flakes (casual tools), 6 pieces of ground stone tools, 4 biface fragments, 4 cores, 3 hammerstones, and one core tool.  The site also produced 84.2 g of animal bone and three pieces of fired clay or daub.  Lithic materials that were imported from some distance to the site include one piece of Coso Volcanic Field obsidian from near China Lake and Ridgecrest and one piece of Piedra de Lumbre chert from northern San Diego County.   A single hearth feature made of fire-altered granitic rocks was found in the 30-50 cm level of Unit 1.  The lack of pottery and small arrowheads, along with the presence of a large dart point or knife fragment and a 6.3 obsidian hydration reading from the Coso obsidian, indicate an Early Period or San Dieguito/Archaic period occupation.  No formal testing was done on the historic materials which consist of a surface scatter of relatively recent glass, metal, and ceramic artifacts.  Historic materials were not encountered below the surface.   The prehistoric component of SDI-12510/H was judged to be a significant cultural resource by Gallegos and Associates (1994) because of the large number and diversity of artifact types, its early time period, and the relatively good integrity of the archaeological deposits.  Palomar College will conduct data recovery excavations at this site over the next few years, beginning Fall 2003.

SDI-12592/H:  This site measures 40 x 25 m in size.  It was tested using surface collections, nine shovel test pits (STPs) and one 1 x 1.5 m excavation unit.  Three milling features with 14 milling elements were also mapped and recorded.  The subsurface prehistoric component consisted of 6 pieces of debitage and 0.1 g of bone.  No subsurface features were noted.  The material may be part of the prehistoric use area associated with SDI-12510/H just to the north.  The historic component is much more substantial. It consists of a concentration of historic artifacts that include glass, ceramics, metal, and leather artifacts to a maximum depth of 10 cm.  This deposit is spatially associated with a bedrock milling outcrop.   A surface collection in a 7 x 10 m area and the excavation of one STP and one 1 x 1.5 m test unit resulted in the recovery of 663 artifacts.   According to Gallegos and Associates (1994), the historic materials represent a single refuse deposit laid down ca. 1920.  This site was judged not to be a significant cultural resource, but the entire extent of this site will be investigated by the Palomar College Archaeology Program during upcoming seasons.