Section 4.9 Cultural and Paleontological Resources 4.9.1 Introduction This section assesses the potential impacts on cultural resources that could arise from disturbances and impacts resulting from development consistent with the proposed project, General Plan Amendment No. 960 (GPA No. 960). Cultural resources include areas, places, sites (particularly archeological sites), buildings, structures, objects, records, or manuscripts associated with history or prehistory. Some specific examples of cultural resources are pioneer homes, buildings, or old wagon roads; structures with unique architecture or designed by a notable archi- tect; prehistoric Native American village sites; pioneering ethnic settlements; historic or prehistoric artifacts or objects, rock inscriptions, human burial sites; battlefields; railroad water towers; prehistoric trails; early mines or important historic industrial sites. Cultural resources may also include places that have historic or traditional associations or that are important for their natural resources. Cultural resources are important for scientific, historic and, at times religious, reasons to cultures, communities, groups and individuals. Paleontological resources (evidence of past life forms and their biota) are valued for the information they yield about the history of the earth and its past ecological settings. Although not human-related, paleontological resources are also included in this section, as their impacts and mitigation requirements tend to be similar to that of archeological resources. On rare occasion, fossils have been found in archeological sites that have been modified by man, making them also artifacts. 4.9.2 Existing Setting - Cultural and Paleontological Resources The cultural resource characteristics of Riverside County reflect patterns of human settlement, human use of the land and its resources, the artistic expressions on material culture and natural features, technologies and ideologies, as well as past environmental conditions. The existing paleontological setting reflects the paleontological record and related geology as they are currently known for Riverside County. This sub-section includes information summarized from Section 4.6 of the 1999 “Existing Setting Report” prepared for the 2003 RCIP General Plan. A. Cultural / Ethnological Resources The cultural history of Riverside County is divided into two general chronological units: prehistory and the historic time periods which include ethnohistoric information. “Prehistory” encompasses the period of earliest human activities prior to the keeping of written records and spans over 99% of the total extent of human society. Due to the lack of written sources for this period, archeological study is key to its understanding. In Southern County of Riverside Environmental Impact Report No. 521 Public Review Draft § February 2015 4.9-1 California, the prehistoric period refers only to Native American traditions, beginning with the settlement of the Southern California region at least 10,000 to 12,000 years ago and extending forward through time to initial Euro- American settlement in the late 18th century when the mission system was established, disrupting native life ways. Nearly a century later, between 1875 and 1891, at least ten Indian reservations were set aside in Riverside County and nearby vicinities. Most indigenous tribal people natives were moved to these reservations, further disrupting and largely ending, the persistence of traditional Native American life ways. The historic era began around 1774 with the exploratory expeditions of Juan Bautista de Anza and continued to 45 years before the present day, (currently 1966) as defined by CEQA. 1. Prehistory Riverside County environmental conditions during the late Pleistocene and Holocence periods fostered an ecologically rich region for human settlement. This 14,000-year period of human occupation was marked by an overall trend toward increasing aridity and warmer temperatures, with some temporary reversals as well as periods of climatic stability. As environmental conditions changed, Native American populations adapted with modifica- tions in settlement patterns, subsistence practices, social organization and technology. Three primary geomorphic provinces are found in Riverside County: the Mojave Desert, the Colorado Desert and the Peninsular Ranges. The diverse prehistoric landscape and habitats of the internally drained basins and pluvial (landlocked) lakes of the Mojave Desert region, the fresh water lakes of the Colorado Desert and the prominent ranges of the Peninsular Range were used by ancient and indigenous groups of people, leaving a rich archeological heritage. The following artifacts and features are characteristic of the Prehistoric Period: ceramics, projectile points of many types, grinding implements (mortars and pestles, metates and manos), enigmatic cogstones, shell, bone, clay beads and pendants, evidence of big game hunting. Additional background information on these types of artifacts may be found in Section 4.7 of EIR No. 441, the EIR associated with the 2003 RCIP General Plan. The EIR No. 441 section also contains an extensive introduction to the cultural timelines associated with the Prehistoric Period. Due to the thousands of years spanned by the Prehistoric Period, the impermanence of many indigenous material goods and the widely scattered and varying itinerant patterns of settlement, the prehistoric archeological record tends to be less clearly defined and more sporadically preserved than that of later eras. Nevertheless, a large number of prehistoric resources are known or expected to occur within Riverside County. When uncovered as a result of an archeological investigation or development activities, such resources are, at minimum, documented and entered into a statewide recording system (CHRIS, the California Historical Resources Information System). These records are archived and maintained by the Eastern Information Center (EIC) located at the University of California at Riverside (UCR), a branch of the California Office of Historical Preservation. Of these recorded sites within Riverside County, a few have been designated as federal, state and/or county cultural resources as shown in Table 4.9-A (Cultural Resources of Riverside County), below. A number of sites, however, are protected in the confidential archives of the EIC and are not publicly accessible to protect and preserve their scientific and cultural value. 2. Ethnohistory The Ethnohistoric Period of Riverside County at the time of Euro-American contact was distinguished by eight distinct resident cultural groups of Native Americans: Cahuilla (primarily), Gabrielino, Juaneño, Luiseño, Quechan, Halichidhoma, Chemehuevi and Serrano. These groups occupied territories across Southern California generally as indicated in Figure 4.9.1 (Southern California Tribal Territories). It should be noted that territorial boundaries did change for some tribal groups throughout time. The majority of western Riverside County was County of Riverside Environmental Impact Report No. 521 4.9-2 Public Review Draft § February 2015 occupied by the Cahuilla who spoke a Cupan language within the Takic family of the Uto-Aztecan language stock. The western part of the county, in the vicinity of the Santa Ana Mountains fell within the territory of the Gabrielinos, Juaneños and Luiseños who also spoke Cupan languages. These three populations had territories that extended from the coast eastward and northeastward across the Santa Ana and Palomar mountains, encom- passing Temescal Valley and Lake Elsinore, and extending toward the foothills of the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains. Table 4.9-A: Cultural Resources of Riverside County1 Cultural Resource NRHP1 CSHL CPHI RCHL Location Theme2 Prehistoric Period (Before 1772) 1 Andreas Canyons X Palm Springs, Riverside AG, A/L, 2 Archeological Sites X Blythe, Riverside ARC, A/L, IP (CA-RIV-504 and CA-RIV-773) 3 Blythe Intaglio X I-10 to Highway 95, 13 miles north of EV, IP Blythe 4 Buttercup Farms Pictograph X Perris, Riverside A/L, IP 5 Carved Rock X X I-15 to Temescal Canyon road, view NA, IP from road right of way 6 Coachella Valley Fish Traps X X I-10 to Chuckawalla Valley Road, south ARC, IP to Corn Springs Road, 8 miles to campground 7 Giant Desert Figures X On Highway 95, 16 miles North of NA, A/L Blythe 8 Gus Lederer Site X Desert Center, Riverside ARC, A/L, REL, IP 9 Hemet Maze Stone X X From Hwy 74, go N 3.2 miles on IP California Ave to Maze Stone Park (site located Approx. 0.3 mile past gate), near Hemet. 10 Indian Canyons X Take S. Palm Canyon from Hwy 11 to NA the Indian Canyons Toll Gate 11 McCoy Spring Archeological Site X Blythe, Riverside A/L, IP 12 Murrieta Creek Archeological Area X Temecula, Riverside IP 13 North Chuckwalla Mountain X Desert Center, Riverside IP Petroglyph District (CA-RIV 1383) 14 North Chuckwalla Mountain Quarry X Desert Center, Riverside IP Dist. 15 Painted Rock X X From Temescal Canyon Rd, east on NA, IP Dawson Canyon Road, south along railroad track berm 16 Site of Indian Village of Pochea X X Ramona Bowl, 27400 S Girard St, NA, IP Hemet; plaque near restrooms. 17 Tahquitz Canyon X 500 West Mesquite, Palm Springs IP, AG, REL Exploration Period (1772-1818) 18 Coachella Valley Preserve X I-10 to Ramon, east to Thousand E/S Palms Canyon Road, north to Thousand Palms Oasis 19 Site of De Anza Camp and Crossing X S/Terwilliger on Coyote Cyn. E/S 20 Site of De Anza Crossing of the Santa X X Jurupa Heights; plaque