Fall 2007 Excavations at SDI-12510/H and -12592/H
 in Association With the Vallecitos Water District

ANTH 120 Students      ANTH 205 Students

Fall 2007 Excavation Photos

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.  Excavations were conducted in 2003 and 2004, and we are now returning in 2007.

The Water District has been extremely helpful in facilitating Palomar's archaeological field school (ANTH 120 and 205, Beginning and Advanced Excavation).  It has provided a 10 x 20 ft container to store equipment on site, a portable bathroom for students and staff, and a water line from the main buildings up to the site so that wet screening of site deposits can be done on-site.  The District also cleared a 5' wide path from the parking lot up to the two sites we will be investigating, and this year between SDI-12592/H and the centralized wet screening area.  The District has also provided aerial photos and other documentation.

SDI-12510/H and SDI-12592/H were the subject of test excavations by Gallegos and Associates in 1994, with Ivan Strudwick serving as Field Director.  They excavated three 1 x 1 m units (two in 12510/H and one in SDI-12592/H) as well as over 25 shovel test pits.  In 2003, Palomar excavated another 20 shovel test pits and opened up six 2 x 2 m units in the heart of the site.  A major hearth feature was encountered in Unit 7 in 2004.  In 2004, the 2 x 2 m units were continued and six other units were opened up (1 x 1s and 1 x 2s), and the entire site of SDI-12510/H was mapped, including prehistoric and historic surface artifacts, all excavation units and shovel test pits, as well as milling features.  Several additional milling features were discovered and mapped.   Test Unit 14 produced relatively abundant historic glass and ceramic artifacts. 

This year we are continuing to explore both the prehistoric and historic components of the site and we have expanded the study to include the prehistoric and historic components of SDI-12592/H, which may have both been contemporaneous with SDI-12510/H.  The Gallegos test excavations at SDI-12592/H indicated an historic occupation ca. 1900-1910, and artifacts at SDI-12510/H so far suggest a similar time period.  Advanced students will be working on a title search to find out when a structure was once on the property at SDI-12510/H and doing historic artifact ID studies from the same site to check on their temporal and functional significance.  Other advanced students will be mapping the bedrock milling features at both sites.   We also hope to expand test units into the vicinity of milling outcrops Features A and B at SDI-12510/H.  Gallegos' 1994 Test Unit 2 indicated considerable midden in this vicinity.

The two sites are described below, based on information provided in the 1994 Gallegos report:

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.

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.   A particularly interesting question is whether this site was in fact a part of the prehistoric and historic occupations found at SDI-12510/H.