HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY REPORT: HEINLENVILLE/SAN JOSÉ CORPORATION YARD ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT, SAN JOSÉ, CALIFORNIA Prepared for the The Redevelopment Agency City of San José Cover photo: Children from Heinlenville on their way to American school. They were educated both at integrated public schools, primarily San Jose’s Grant School, and also at a Chinese Language school in the Ng Shung Gung temple. Courtesy of Connie Young Yu. HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY REPORT: HEINLENVILLE/SAN JOSÉ CORPORATION YARD ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT, SAN JOSÉ, CALIFORNIA Prepared by Anthropological Studies Center Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, California Prepared for the The Redevelopment Agency City of San José San José, California April 2008 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The City of San José plans to redevelop approximately 5.8 acres in the city’s Japantown district, historically known as Heinlenville. The Project area is part of a larger area that has been recorded in the California Historical Resources Information System as CA-SCL- 742H/P-43-001102 for its association with historic Japanese and Chinese selement. To inform the project’s Environmental Impact Report, the Anthropological Studies Center (ASC) has undertaken fieldwork and archival research of the Project area, including an archaeological records search, geoarchaeological testing, and the preparation of a historic context. This research indicates that the Project area is likely to contain important archaeological resources related to the historic-era Chinese and Japanese communities that once resided there, and also has the potential to contain important Native American archaeological resources. ASC recommends that the location be systematically examined. Anthropological Studies Center, Sonoma State University iii CONTENTS Executive Summary .............................................................................................................. iii Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................1 Project Location and Description ..........................................................................................1 Regulatory Context .................................................................................................................1 Native American and Local Community Contacts .............................................................4 Historical Research Methods and Sources Consulted .......................................................5 Prehistoric-era Background Sources ..............................................................................5 Historical Background Sources .......................................................................................5 Secondary Sources ......................................................................................................6 Historic Maps ..............................................................................................................6 Historic-era Photographs ..........................................................................................7 Oral Histories ..............................................................................................................7 Records Search ............................................................................................................7 Chapter 2: Prehistoric and Historic-era Overviews ................................................................11 Geoenvironmental Seing ....................................................................................................11 Sea Level Rise ..................................................................................................................11 Alluvial Deposition .........................................................................................................12 Paleoenvironment ...........................................................................................................12 Historic Changes .............................................................................................................14 Prehistoric-era Overview ......................................................................................................15 Prehistory .........................................................................................................................15 Paleoindian Period (ca. 13,000 to 8000 B.P.) ..........................................................15 Lower Archaic Period (8000 to 5000 B.P.) ..............................................................16 Early Bay/ Windmiller Paern (Early Period 4000 to 2500 B.P.) ........................16 Berkeley Paern (Middle Period 2500 to 1300 B.P.) .............................................17 Augustine Paern (Late Period 1300 B.P. to Historic Period) ............................18 Ethnography ....................................................................................................................18 Territory, Language, and Population .....................................................................18 History .......................................................................................................................19 Subsistence ................................................................................................................19 Material Culture .......................................................................................................21 Historic-ERA overview .........................................................................................................21 Early Development of the Santa Clara Valley .............................................................21 Development of Heinlenville Chinatown ...................................................................22 Chinese Selement in the Santa Clara Valley .......................................................22 Early Chinese Selement in San Jose .....................................................................23 Establishment of Heinlenville ................................................................................24 Agricultural Workers and Heinlenville.................................................................36 District Associations and Tongs .............................................................................38 Women and Families in Heinlenville ....................................................................39 Heinlenville and the Broader San Jose Community ............................................40 Dissolution of Heinlenville .....................................................................................41 Development of Sixth Street Nihonmachi – Japantown ............................................42 Japanese Immigration to California .......................................................................42 The Japanese in Santa Clara County Agriculture ................................................42 Immigration of Japanese Women between 1907 and 1924 .................................43 The Development of Nihonmachi ..........................................................................44 iv HCASR: Heinlenville/San José Corporation Yard Archaeological Project Later Development of Nihonmachi Community .................................................46 Impact of World War II Internments on Nihonmachi .........................................47 Chapter 3: Preliminary Archaeological Sensitivity Study ......................................................49 Prehistoric Archaeology .......................................................................................................49 Geoarchaeological Field Investigation .........................................................................49 Expected Prehistoric Archaeological Property Types ................................................50 Non-residential .........................................................................................................50 Residential .................................................................................................................50 Prehistoric Archaeological Sensitivity .........................................................................53 Historic-era Archaeology .....................................................................................................54 Methods ............................................................................................................................54 Results ...............................................................................................................................55 Assessment of Disturbance ............................................................................................55 Expected Historic Archaeological Property Types.....................................................56 Archaeological Formation Processes .....................................................................56 Post Historic-era Occupation Disturbances ..........................................................60 Historic-era Archaeological Sensitivity .......................................................................61 Chapter 4: Conclusion and Recommendations ......................................................................63 Recommendation: Create Archaeological Planning Documents .............................63 Recommendation: Appropriate Treatment of Human Remains ..............................63 References