Publications in Cultural Heritage 1970 -1977

The California Department of Parks and Recreation (formerly the California Division of Beaches and Parks) has endeavored to publish the results of its investigations and management of a wide range of California's most important cultural heritage sites for over 50 years. 

PDF copies of the archived reports are available for download below. Hard copies are available for purchase, though supplies are limited. For more information, please email SACRF@parks.ca.gov or call 916-263-1632.


Archeology of the Menjoulet Site Merced County, California.
1970 Archeological Report (#13)

Archeological investigations were carried out at the Menjoulet Site (4-MER-3) in 1964 and 1965. The site is located in the lower section of the Menjoulet Canyon at the eastern edge of the Diablo foothills on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, seven miles southwest of the city of Los Banos. The midden deposit covers approximately five acres and reaches a depth of  42 inches in the main village area. There are bedrock mortars to the south of the site and cupule-style petroglyph situated on the western edge of the site. The recovery of 22 primary burials and 32 cremations in stratigraphic context indicates at least two cultural and temporal components within the site. The service archeology program of the State of California as administered by the Archeological Resources Section of the Dept of Parks and Recreation has grown to the point where positive results in the recording of the fast disappearing prehistoric resources of California are being felt. This report exemplifies the best aspects of service archeology.


Perris Reservoir Archeology: Late Prehistoric Demographic Change in Southeastern California.
1973 Archeological Report (#14) - Part One
Part TwoPart Three, Part Four

Surveys and excavations at Perris Reservoir, now Lake Perris State Recreation Area, were designed to gain an understanding of the nature of prehistoric human adaptation within a discrete region of southeastern California, and the changes in that adaptation over time.  Use of the region by human populations significantly intensified after AD 1500, the period from which the vast majority of the data are derived. After this time, use of deep basin milling stones seems to have been replaced by processing at numerous isolated bedrock milling stations. Since increased resource availability can seemingly be ruled out, intensified use of the region must reflect significant changes in population distributions. Such a demographic shift is most likely a result of restricted settlement patterns which accompanied the abrupt disappearance of freshwater Lake LeConte from the Salton Basin roughly coeval with the changes noted at Perris Reservoir.  The archeological work was done before the construction of one of the final links in the most ambitious water development and distribution project in history. This present report can be viewed as a substantial contribution to the prehistory of inland Southern California.


The Central Pacific Railroad Passenger Station, Sacramento: Historic Sites Archeology at the
Location of the Western Terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad.
Archeological Report (#15)

As an important part of the reconstruction of Old Sacramento State Historic Park, the Old Central Pacific Railroad Passenger Depot has been reconstructed. In conjunction with this project, archeological investigations were undertaken at the site of the Passenger Depot by the Cultural Resources Section of the California Department of Parks and Recreation during the September of 1975.  Although detailed architectural drawings of the proposed reconstruction had been prepared prior to the initiation of field work, and reconstruction was slated to begin in October 1975, it was believed that archeological excavations might prove a useful input into reconstruction research. This study contributes to an understanding of the particular historic processes in operation on the site both prior and subsequent to the interpretive period. It also demonstrates the practical importance of this sort of understanding to the resolution of practical restoration and reconstruction problems. The specific objectives of the archeological phase of this research included (1) verification of the basic dimensions and precise location of the depot (2) recording information concerning structural attributes of that building, and (3) recovery of period artifacts. This paper reports the results of these exploratory excavations.


Archeological Test Excavations within Border Field State Park, San Diego County, California.
1978 Archeological Report (#16)

The Monument Mesa Site (CA-SDI-222) lies within Border Field State Park. It is important to the understanding of early prehistoric man’s adaptation to the San Diego seacoast during a geological period when the physical features of the region differed from those of today. Monument Mesa embodies lithic artifacts of the enigmatic culture referred to as San Dieguito, which the first know on the south coast of California. The stone tools of the coastal San Dieguito hunting complex may have an antiquity of over 9,000 years. Remnants of a shell midden reflect the importance of the prehistoric bay in the subsistence pattern of subsequent native groups. The Cultural Heritage Section of the State Department of Parks and Recreation tested the archeological site and made recommendations for the mitigation of proposed impacts from recreation facilities to the midden deposit. This report documents those findings.


The Archeology of Ven-100.
1979 Archeological Report (#17)

VEN-100 is an important relatively undisturbed Native American site in the Santa Monica Mountains of southern California, with remains that possibly extend back to 7,000 B.P.  The site is a preserve of Point Mugu State Park. This report is based on test excavations of the site conducted by over a two-week period in June 1968 by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. These excavations were made to determine the nature of the four separate, but closely space deposits, and how the deposits might be affect by recreational use of the area. Archeological data from each of the four areas are described in separate sections of this report and synthesized in the discussion and conclusions. A typology of artifacts and a detailed description of the vertebrate fauna of the site are in the appendixes.


Archeology of the Jonson Site: (CA-Sac-65) Sacramento County, California.
1977 Archeological Report (#18)

The Jonson Site (CA-SAC-65) is located within former Plains Miwok territory in southwestern Sacramento County, three kilometers south of Hood, California. The site lies about 2.5 kilometers east of the Sacramento River, on the former shoreline of South Stone Lake and is situated upon a natural knoll. Excavation took place in April and May, 1974 and revealed evidence of a limited inventory of subsistence and ritual activities. Location of the site is an area of low-lying alluvial lands. Such lands were originally protected by natural levees of the Sacramento River, which were effective in preventing flooding for much of the year, but were often breached or topped by winter floods. This paper reports the excavation of the Jonson Site and relates the recovered materials to the settlement pattern of the lower Sacramento Valley.