3Rd Administrative Draft
Section 3.0 Environmental Setting, Impacts, and Mitigation 3.11 CULTURAL AND PALEONTOLOGICAL RESOURCES The following discussion evaluates existing cultural and paleontological resources and the environmental effects of implementation of the Envision San José 2040 General Plan. The analysis in this section is based in part on the following technical reports: • Cultural Resources Existing Setting, Envision San José 2040 General Plan, Santa Clara County, California, Basin Research Associates, July 2009. • Cultural Resources Impacts, Envision San José 2040 General Plan, Santa Clara County, California, Basin Research Associates, November 2010. • Paleontological Evaluation Report for the Envision San José 2040 General Plan, Santa Clara County, California, C. Bruce Hanson, September 2010. Copies of these reports are included in the Technical Appendices to this Draft PEIR (Appendix J). 3.11.1 Existing Setting 3.11.1.1 Overview Cultural resources are evidence of past human occupation and activity and include both historical and archeological resources. These resources may be located above ground, underground or underwater, and have significance in the history, prehistory153, architecture or culture of the nation, State of California, or local or tribal communities. Examples of historic resources include buildings (e.g., houses, factories, churches, hotels); structures (e.g., bridges, dams); districts (i.e., a group of buildings or structures that have a common basis in history or architecture); sites (e.g., prehistoric or historic encampments); objects (e.g., statues, ships, marquees); and areas (e.g., historic mining towns, parks). Cultural resources may include homes, buildings or old roads of early settlers; structures with unique architecture; prehistoric village sites; historic or prehistoric artifacts or objects; rock inscriptions; human burial sites; and earthworks, such as canals or prehistoric mounds.
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