1990S Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Cultural Resources Inventory Conducted by the Archaeological Research Unit, University of California, Riverside
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Recovery, Synthesis, and Reporting: 1990s Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Cultural Resources Inventory Conducted by the Archaeological Research Unit, University of California, Riverside #CSP169-05 PCA #37165 Prepared for: California State Parks Cultural Heritage Division Prepared by: Joan S. Schneider, Ph.D., Associate State Archeologist, Colorado Desert District Matthew C. Hall, Ph.D. Director, Archaeological Research Unit University of California, Riverside Marla Mealey, M.A. Associate State Archeologist, Southern Service Center With a contribution by Heather Tompson September 2006 Schneider, Mealey, and Hall 2006 i MANAGEMENT SUMMARY During the mid-late 1990s, the University of California, Riverside - Archaeological Research Unit (UCR-ARU) contracted with California State Parks (CSP), through an Interagency Agreement, to carry out the first large-scale holistic systematic cultural resources inventory for Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (ABDSP). The project leader was Dr. Matthew C. Hall, Director of the UCR-ARU. Between 1995 and 1998, the UCR- ARU conducted fieldwork in ABDSP, following an elaborate Research Design that combined both a statistically based random-sample of parklands and a judgmental-area approach. The former was called Probabilistic Sample; the latter, Targeted Areas which were identified by ABDSP staff as areas with known high concentrations of cultural resources that had not been fully recorded. Field methods used in the two approaches were identical. The Research Design was developed to maximize the gathering of information about ABDSP cultural resources. As the project progressed, it became evident that, due to field conditions and findings, the Research Design was too ambitious and that the project could not be completed as was originally planned. This situation led to a change in the focus of the project; the end result was a much larger and more complete dataset from North ABDSP than from the Central and Southern areas, particularly in the realm of statistical sampling. Consequently, although huge amounts of data were collected, the data are uneven. Another reason for refocus of the project was the immediate need for cultural resource information for the development of the ABDSP General Plan. A final report on the UCR-ARU Cultural Resources Inventory was never completed, although a large body of site records and other archival data was transferred to CSP. The goal of this document is to pull together a final report using information provided by the UCR-ARU and the CSP Southern Service Center. Portions of text and many tables had already been developed by Dr. Matthew hall of the UCR-ARU. Joan Schneider used these materials, edited them, and expanded them. The UCR-ARU inventoried 200 selected 500-meter by 500-meter survey blocks; in all, this encompassed 11,834 acres throughout ABDSP, almost a two percent sample. Cultural properties that were recorded included 143 archaeological sites and 580 other types of cultural properties (properties that did not meet the UCR-ARU criteria for sites). In addition, ARU-UCR proposed new criteria for sites and advocated the use of newly proposed consistent terminology for descriptions of archaeological assemblages. The body of data acquired during the project is housed at the Begole Archeological Research Center (BARC) at Colorado Desert District Headquarters (CDD) in Borrego Springs. This report presents a variety of synthetic treatments of the data using tabular format. The findings indicate that: • Most of the surface archaeological record in ABDSP was formed in the last 1500 years and more likely with in the past 1000 years, the Late Prehistoric period. Schneider, Mealey, and Hall 2006 ii • Historical resources located during the project date from the very last portion of the 19th century and are mostly early-to-mid 20th century. Schneider developed a random-sample basis for Central ABDSP from the 1970s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Desert Study. She retrieved data from archival sources, for comparisons with the UCR-ARU data from North ABDSP. No random sample data are available from South ABDSP. During the course of the archival research, Schneider was able to clarify some of the aspects of the earlier BLM work within ABDSP. ABDSP holds archaeological site records for somewhat over 5000 cultural properties at this time. If the two random sample datasets (one by UCR-ARU; the other by BLM) are used to make some simple observations, comparisons, and predictions about the numbers of cultural resources within ABDSP, some statements (with qualifications) can be made. • Cultural resources are much more frequent in the Central portion of ABDSP than in the North – almost 30 times more frequent. • The present data indicate that there are, very conservatively, more than 27, 400 cultural sites within all of ABDSP (using a calculation of a mean of the North and Central random-sample datasets and applying them to the total acreage of the Park, including the South). The UCR-ARU Cultural Resources Inventory is the first systematic effort by CSP toward obtaining a full understanding of the surface archaeological record of ABDSP, although the effort was flawed in several respects that are discussed within the report. Administrators and managers should be aware that survey-level data are weak in analytical usefulness because (1) tools of chronological placement are very limited and (2) surface vegetation conceals many sites. Moreover, indications of substantial subsurface cultural deposits are present throughout ABDSP; these need to be identified and investigated in order to protect and preserve them. Recommendations to ABDSP and CSP include: • Complete Probabilistic Sample inventory in Central and South ABDSP • Identify and investigate subsurface cultural resources • Enter into GIS layers all corrected and expanded cultural resources data discussed in this report • Secure additional staff and funding to properly record, track, manage, protect, and preserve the very rich prehistoric and historic cultural resources of ABDSP. More specifically, suggested subjects for further study include (1) excavation of several rockshelters in the upper Coyote Creek drainage; (2) final development and acceptance of an up-to-date Ceramic Typology for the area; (3) development of a Comparative Lithic Collection with consistent nomenclature and identification key; (4) full recordation of Bailey’s Cabin in Coyote Creek drainage;(5) complete recommendations for Special Status for sites suspected or known to contain human remains; (6) further analytical treatment of the raw data generated by the UCR-ARU project. Schneider, Mealey, and Hall 2006 iii Frontispiece: Hearths and artifacts along an unnamed drainage coming out of the mouth of Horse Canyon, Coyote Creek Drainage Probabilistic Sampling Domain. Part of site CA-RIV-6326 (CDD-086-S2) Schneider, Mealey, and Hall 2006 iv PREFACE This report is a combined effort of Joan S. Schneider, Ph.D., Associate State Archeologist, California State Parks, Colorado Desert District; Marla Mealey, Associate State Archeologist, Southern Service Center; and Matthew C. Hall, Ph.D., Director of the Archaeological Research Unit, University of California, Riverside, with the assistance of many people who participated in the fieldwork portion of the project during the 1990s and recent archival data- gathering by Heather Thomson, Archaeological Project Leader, and Bonnie Bruce, Archaeological Specialist on contract with California State University, Bakersfield. Although the fieldwork for the Project was completed in the mid-1990s, a final report was not completed for a variety of reasons (see History of the Project). Data gathering, site record forms, and maps had been completed for most of the successive phases of the Project, but no draft text was available. The project methods and goals changed considerably during the interval between the first phase and the successive phases of the project, contributing to some discontinuity and non-conformity in the results and the reporting of the results from different areas. With the changes in methods and focus, some of the goals of the project also had to be altered resulting in the absence of random sample data for the Central (other than Borrego Badlands) and Southern portions of ABDSP. Dr. Hall had completed drafts of various sections of the final report on the first aspect of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park work, the Northern Portion, as well as all of the data tables. I have used these drafts, but edited them, reorganized various sections, and then have gone on to write sections of the report for the Southern and Central portions of ABDSP. Over the years that I have been involved in the archaeology of ABDSP, I have seen the urgent need for substantive data to be used to understand the full extent of the cultural resources in ABDSP. Parks staff needs this information to manage and protect its resources in an optimal manner. Consequently, although not included in the original Scope of Work for this report, I have made a creative effort to use other data (namely BLM data from the 1970s Desert Survey and other available information, to “round out” some missing elements from fieldwork in the Central region of ABDSP. The purpose is to be able to build a representative random sample for comparison purposes and to make some projections, based on statistical modeling, about the numbers and types of cultural resources (particularly prehistoric resources) in all of ABDSP. Although statistical tests of validity were beyond the