by Paul R. Secord, Pasadena, CA
March 2009
In 1952 Edwin Francis Walker, Research Assistant at the Southwest Museum (SWM) published a compilation of site reports on five important southern California archaeological sites he had excavated between 1936 and 1945.
Five Prehistoric Archeological Sites in Los Angeles County, California; Edwin Francis Walker. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum, 1952. 116 p.: ill.; 26 cm. Publications of the Frederick Webb Hodge Anniversary Publication Fund, v.6.
As museum personal began working with items collected from the Five Sites, part of SWM ongoing conservation efforts, questions concerning their general context kept coming up:
a.) Pre-historic - How and when did Native Americans use the sites?
b.) As Found - When were the sites found, who found them and what was there?
c.) Today - What remains of the sites now (2009)?
The following are summary answers to these questions, (see Walkers original Five Prehistoric Archaeological Sites . . . and the references listed at the conclusion of this paper for more details):
(a.) Pre-historic
This site consisted of over 30 groupings of boulders and large broken ground stone artifacts, primarily metates, in clusters/piles, each with 4 to 43 artifacts and/or boulders. There was no evidence of habitation or a cemetery. The site appears representative of the Topanga Complex of the Milling-Stone Horizon (8000 B. P. - 2000 B. P.). This culture reflects a transition from primarily hunting to primarily collecting seed foods, and apparently predates the arrival of the Uto-Aztecan Gabrielino/Tongva Native American peoples generally associated with the Los Angeles Basin.
(b.) As Found
The site was discovered the winter of 1936 by the foreman of the Christian-Porter Ranch in San Fernando while plowing and leveling the site of a former barn and corral. This 200-acre Ranch, a part of the much large Porter family land holdings, was in close proximity to the San Fernando Mission and had been used for cattle and agricultural activities since the late 18th century.
(c.) Today
The subject archaeological site is located adjacent the incorporation boundary of the City of San Fernando, just southeast of the intersection of San Fernando Road and Hubbard Street. The area is completely urbanized with residential and commercial development, principally dating from the early 1950s.
(a.) Pre-historic
This site showed evidence of long term permanent occupation and food gathering, including numerous artifacts, animal/fish bones, shell, burials, cremations, and cairns possibly associated with ceremonial activities such as the “Mourning Ceremony.” A Gabrielino/Tongva village referred to as Chowigna at the time of the Spanish landing on the coast in 1542 is thought to have been at this locale. The site was initially thought to represent a time sequence of many thousands of years of layered cultural deposits. This interpretation, (see William J. Wallace 1955), was used to define a four-horizon cultural sequence applicable to all of southern California. This sequence, thought to be uniquely represented at Malaga Cove, remains the standard prehistoric cultural chronology used to this day. However, recent evaluations of the site are calling into questions the cultural stratigraphy, and associated chronology, long thought established by the Malaga Cove excavations.
(b.) As Found
The sand dunes on the undeveloped bluffs above Malaga Cove had been well known for many years to artifact collectors as a prime location for finding arrow-points and skeletons. In the fall of 1936 it was selected as the most desirable local site for a University of Southern California Field Archaeology Class.
(c.) Today
The site was located on a coastal bluff just north of the corporate boundary of the City of Palos Verdes Estates, within a strip of the City of Torrance that extends to the ocean. By 1955 the main components of the site were lost to development and erosion, with remaining adjacent areas probably completely destroyed by further development and archaeological excavations in the early 1960s. There are now single and multi-family residences structures completely covering what remains of the site. However, most of site as it existed in the 1930s, has apparently eroded as cliff faces have collapsed into the ocean.
(a.) Pre-historic
This site was a cemetery, and apparent ceremonial local, associated with a Native American village known to have existed north of where the human remains were found. Two distinct levels of very badly preserved human remains, a total of over 50 adults in all, were uncovered. The bones of children would probably not have been preserved given soil conditions. In addition, about 10 stone cairns, possibly associated with of the Gabrielino/Tongva “Mourning Ceremony” were discovered about 10’ north of the burials. The age of the cultural remains have not been determined, although they are apparently prehistoric, as no objects of European origin were discovered.
(b.) As Found
When the City of Pasadena first built the Sheldon Water Reservoir is unknown, however the City is know to have diverted water from a spring in the area as early as 1897. In 1938 work began to expand the existing reservoir. At a depth of several feet a skeleton was discovered, and as it appeared to be very old, the Southwest Museum was called to investigate. A village site was said to have once existed north of the these finds based on artifacts discovered during the late 19th and early 20th century in nearby citrus groves.
(c.) Today
The Sheldon Reservoir expansion was completed in early 1939 and the reservoir continues to serve the local area. The archaeological site / cemetery was completely eliminated as a result of excavations for the reservoir and archaeological recovery. The purported village site to the north is now under the 210 (Foothill) Freeway at about the Lincoln Avenue grade separation, as well as under single-family residential development, much of which dates back more than 50-years.
(a.) Pre-historic
The Chatsworth site consists of two groups of stone and artifacts, i.e. primarily broken sandstone bowls, manos, metates, hammerstones, basket-hopper mortars, as well as chipped stone artifacts and ornaments. The grouping were in sterile soil just below the ground level, one being 28’ x 40’ and the other being about 33’ x 26’. The two groups were about 65’ apart. The site was interpreted by Walker to be associated with prehistoric ceremonies, in particular the “Mourning Ceremonies,” (see discussion for Big Tujunga Wash below.) He concluded that they represented two different ceremonies at two different times; both associated with the Gabrielino/Tongva Native Americans. No primary burials, evidence of habitation or evidence of food processing was discovered. However, extensive occupation, burial sites and food processing locations are known from the general area.
(b.) As Found
In April of 1939 workers in a Lemon Grove on the Fried Ranch, near where Canoga Avenue now crosses under the 118 (Simi Valley) Freeway, discovered stone artifacts and the SWM was called.
(c.) Today
The Chatsworth cairn site is located approximately 700-ft. east of the campus of the Chatsworth Hills Academy, within a single-family residential neighborhood that was developed in 1984.
(a.) Pre-historic
The site was interpreted by Walker to be the location of prehistoric “Mourning Ceremonies” associated with a large Native American village. This village is probably the one often referred to as Tohuunga, located near the confluence of the Big and Little Tujunga drainages, about 500’ south of site. The Mourning Ceremony involved offering gifts to important dead tribal members, resulting in the large number of broken stone bowls and other broken artifacts found at the site.(b.) As Found
This site was discovered in the summer of 1945 at the rear of what was probably a half-acre property located at the southeast corner of Foothill Blvd. and Orcas Avenue in Lake View Terrace. The owner, William Loyd McFee was plowing for a Victory Garden when stone artifacts began to appear, he contacted the SWM, which than began a dig in the garden.(c.) Today
This site, which was essentially destroyed by archaeological excavation, is now located under the west bound lanes of the 210 - Foothill Freeway just before the Orcas Avenue overcrossing. The village site, to which the ceremonial local was apparently associated, was buried as remediation for development of an equestrian center.
(in addition to Walker’s Five Prehistoric Archeological Sites in Los Angeles County, California, and Secord, Paul R. 2008, Online Access in Relation to Walker’s Five Prehistoric Archaeological Sites in Los Angeles County - The Five Sites Today; internal study report prepared for the Southwest Museum):
Site 1 - A Metate Site at San Fernando:
Johnson, Keith L. 1966. Site LAn-2: A Late Manifestation of the Topanga Complex in Southern California Prehistory. Anthropological Records 23:1-36. University of California, Berkeley.
Kowta, Makoto. 1986. Grist for the Mills of History: LAN-1 and the Milling Stone Horizon. In Symposium: A New Look at Some Old Sites, pp. 37-47. Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory No. 6. Salinas, California.
McCawley, William. 1996. The First Angelinos: the Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles, Malki Museum Press, Banning, California, p. 2 for a discussion of the “Milling Stone Horizon.”
Moratto, Michael J. 1984. California Archaeology. Academic Press, Orlando, Florida.
Treganza, Adan E., and A. Bierman. 1958. The Topanga Culture: Final Report on Excavations, 1948. Anthropological Records 20:45-86. University of California, Berkeley.
Treganza, Adan E., and C. G. Malamud 1950. The Topanga Culture: First Season's Excavations at the Tank Site, 1947. Anthropological Records 12:129-170. University of California, Berkeley.
Wallace, William J. 1954. The Little Sycamore Site and the Early Milling Stone Cultures of Southern California. American Antiquity 20:112-123.
Wallace, William J. 1955. A Suggested Chronology for Southern California Coastal Archaeology. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 11:214-230.
Site 2 - A Stratified Site at Malaga Cove:
Erlandson, Jon. 1994. Early Hunter-Gatherers of the California Coast, (Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology), Plenum Publishing Corporation, New York, pp. 223-224.
Justice, Noel D. 2002. Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of California and the Great Basin, Indiana University Press, pp 363-366.
McCawley, William. 1996. The First Angelinos: the Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles, Malki Museum Press, Banning, California, pp. 2, 20, 63, 91, 118, and 164 for a discussion of “Malaga Cove” and pp. 161-165; for a discussion of the “Mourning Ceremony.”
Peterson, Mark L. 2008. Origins and Problems of Cultural Stratigraphy and Chronology in Southern California, as Originally Defined at the Malaga Cove Archaeology Site in the Palos Verdes Hills, AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90076©2008 AAPG Pacific Section, Bakersfield, California.
Wallace, William J. 1955. A Suggested Chronology for Southern California Coastal Archaeology. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 11:214-230.
Site 3 - A Cemetery at the Sheldon Reservoir Site in Pasadena:
McCawley, William. 1996. The First Angelinos: the Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles, Malki Museum Press, Banning, California, pp. 161-165; for a discussion of the “Mourning Ceremony.”
No other references shedding light on this site, beyond Walker’s reports and notes, and Secord’s investigation, were discovered.
Site 4 - A Cairn Site at Chatsworth:
McCawley, William. 1996. The First Angelinos: the Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles, Malki Museum Press, Banning, California, pp. 161-165; for a discussion of the “Mourning Ceremony.”
Los Angeles County Assessor, Property Assessment Information, March 2009.
No other references shedding light on this site, beyond Walker’s reports and notes, and Secord’s investigation, were discovered.
Note: The site is reported as being associated with a Native American village at the base of Santa Susanna Pass, as well as pictographs and a hot springs on campus of the Chatsworth Hills Academy, 21523 Rinaldi Street, Chatsworth, 91311. This is a likely conclusion, as the local area contains extensive remains of Native American occupation, however, associations and linkages of between various archaeological sites in the area have not been established.
Site 5 - A Stone-Bowl Site at Big Tujunga Wash:
McCawley, William. 1996. The First Angelinos: the Gabrielino Indians of Los Angeles, Malki Museum Press, Banning, California, pp. 161-165; for a discussion of the “Mourning Ceremony” and pp. 35, 39, 53, 113 and 201 for Tohuunga.
United State Army, Corps of Engineers, Hansen Dam Remediation Program, telephone interview with Richard Perry and Steven Dibble, Archaeologists, Corps of Engineers, March 2009. No other references shedding light on this site, beyond Walker’s reports and notes, and Secord’s investigation, were discovered.