APPENDIX E Cultural Resources Assessment Archaeological Inventory of Tentative Tract No. 53426 in the City of Los Angeles, California Prepared for: President Asset Group 260 Newport Center Drive, 3rd Floor Newport Beach, CA 92660 Greenwood and Associates 725 Jacon Way Pacific Palisades, California 90272 K. Ross Way John M. Foster, RPA October 26, 2010 Abstract The City of Los Angeles requested an archaeological investigation of Tentative Tract No. 53426 in vicinity of Chatsworth prior to development. The parcel is located on at the terminus of Andora Avenue and west of the housing development along Trigger Street. The foot reconnaissance of the property encountered one previously identified site, CA- LAN-885, and an isolated find, Temp-1, that consisted of an historic oil tanker truck dating to ca. 1920 that was observed in the central portion of the project area. The remainder of the tract was disturbed and disturbances included the dumping of asphalt, concrete, boulder rip-rap and a variety of modern refuse, and also included the presence of numerous trails such as equestrian and off-highway vehicle trails, as well as foot paths. There were no other cultural materials observed, and no buildings were present. There are several recommendations for CA-LAN-885 including appropriate deed restrictions, and fencing with additional environmental barriers to prevent vandalism or access. It is recommended that an archaeological and Native American monitor should be present during construction of the development to record and document any additional cultural deposits that might be present. Should potentially important cultural deposits be encountered during site preparation or construction, work should be temporarily diverted from the vicinity of the discovery until a qualified archaeologist can identify and evaluate the importance of the find, conduct any appropriate assessment, and implement measures to mitigate impacts on significant resources. Information Center: South Central Coastal Information Center USGS Quadrangle: Canoga Park; Calabasas Acreage: >90 acres Cultural Resources: CA-LAN-885 Type of Investigation: Inventory i CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... i INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 CURRENT SETTING ....................................................................................................... 1 HISTORICAL CONTEXT .................................................................................................. 3 LITERATURE AND ARCHIVAL REVIEW ........................................................................ 4 FIELD SURVEY ............................................................................................................... 7 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................... 7 RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................... 8 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 9 Figures 1. Vicinity Map .................................................................................................................. 2 2. Project Map .................................................................................................................. 8 INTRODUCTION ii Greenwood and Associates has conducted an archaeological field survey of Tentative Tract No. 53426 to determine if archaeological resources are present in an area of potential development on the western edge of the property formerly known as the Roy Rogers Ranch on the western edge of Los Angeles County in the City of Los Angeles (Figure 1). The owner of Tract No. 53426, is interested in developing the parcel. Greenwood and Associates was enlisted for assistance in fulfilling the developer’s obligations under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The project is located at the southwest end of Andora Avenue. The proposed development of Tentative Tract No. 53426 consists of a mixed use project that includes the construction of a 45-lot subdivision, and a proposed equestrian center to be included as Lot 46. Total residential construction consists of approximately 78,000 square feet. This study was prepared in order to identify archaeological resources within the proposed project area. The effort included a review of available archaeological site archives, historical maps, and documents describing the proposed project area location. This report describes the methods, results of the field investigation, and conclusions regarding the probability of impact to cultural resources by virtue of project-related activities. CURRENT SETTING The project is bounded on the east by residential dwellings along Andora Avenue and Trigger Street, the west by Los Angeles/Ventura County line, the south by Department of Water and Power property, and the north by presently undeveloped property (Tentative Tract No. 50632) in the City of Los Angeles. Specifically, it is located in Section 23 of Township 2 North, Range 17 West, on the Calabasas, California 7.5' USGS and Canoga Park, California 7.5’ quadrangle maps (Figure 1). The project as proposed encompasses most of the undeveloped rural area on the western edge of the property formerly known as Roy Rogers Ranch. With the exception of a few jeep and equestrian/foot trails, the majority of the project area is completely undeveloped with some areas of disturbed slope along the lower elevations and adjacent hillsides which are probably the result of brush clearing or the cutting of fire breaks. The fairly recent dumping of building, asphalt, rip-rap and modern refuse has also taken place, primarily in the central portion of the study area which is accessible directly from Andora Avenue. There is also an existing development east of the project area that is not part of this project. 2 FIGURE 1: PROJECT VICINITY 3 FIGURE 2: PROJECT LOCATION 4 HISTORICAL CONTEXT At the time of European contact, Chumashan-speaking peoples occupied a large area that extended south along the California coast from San Luis Obispo County into Los Angeles County and east to Kern County, and included the Santa Barbara Channel Islands of San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and Anacapa (Glassow 1980; Grant 1978). Additionally, a large portion of the greater Los Angeles Basin was occupied by the Gabrielino, also commonly referred to as the Tongva, speakers of one of numerous Uto-Aztecan languages. The arrival of these peoples into Los Angeles region occurred, according to Kowta (1969), by approximately 1,000 B.C. and effectively split coastal Hokan-speaking groups such as the Chumash and Diegueno in two. As a result of fluctuating boundaries, both Chumash and Tongva groups are discussed. Known as the Ventureño Chumash, this group was distinguished from their culturally similar neighbors to the north and west, the Ynezeño and Barbareño Chumash, on the basis of linguistic deviations noted by the early Spanish missionaries of the area, rather than by any apparent difference in social or economic organization. The Ventureño (so named because of their association with Mission San Buenaventura) were the southernmost of all the Chumash peoples and spoke one of four Chumashan dialects considered as forming a core group of more closely related forms (Grant 1978; Kroeber 1953). Native American culture in this region evolved over the course of some 9,000 years and has been described as having achieved a level of social, political, and economic complexity not ordinarily associated with hunting and gathering groups (Greenwood 1972). Ethnographic information about the culture is most extensive for the coastal populations, and the culture and society have been well documented for groups such as the Barbareño and Ventureño Chumash. Much of what is known of the Ventureño has been provided by the journals of early Spanish explorers and by accounts of Chumash informants. The Ventureño, like their neighbors, exploited a wide variety of marine and terrestrial resources within an ecosystem similar to that of their neighbors in Santa Barbara County. The limited area occupied by the Barbareño Chumash, a narrow coastal plain bounded on the north by the Santa Ynez Mountains, combined with a productive near shore fishery, resulted in the establishment of substantial permanent villages (Glassow and Wilcoxon 1979). These large villages provided centralized locations from which the inhabitants ventured to exploit available or seasonal resources, and dispersed surplus resources and manufactured goods through intervillage exchange networks. European incursions into the Ventureño area began with the arrival by sea of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo on October 10, 1542, at the coastal Chumash village of Shisholop (Greenwood and Browne 1969). Here, at the present site of the city of Ventura, the Spaniards were met by many very good canoes, each of which held 12 or 13 Indians. This prompted the visitors to name the settlement Pueblo de las Canoas. Cabrillo and 5 his men, traded glass beads for items of local produce (Engelhardt 1930:4; Grant 1978:518). This first encounter was followed in December, 1602, by a visitation of three ships under the command of Sebastian Vizcaino, and again in August, 1769, by the land expedition commanded by Gaspar de Portolá. The Franciscan