San Diego County Archaeological Society

The Saturday Evening lectures will replace the usual 4th Tuesday General Meetings during the summer months only (There will be no 4th Tuesday meetings in June, July, or August).

The public is invited to arrive early and bring a picnic dinner, chairs, and drinks. It can get cool in the canyon at night, so long-sleeves, jackets, and/or blankets are recommended. Bug repellent is also recommended. SDCAS will provide desert. The meeting begins at 8:00 p.m. with the lecture following some short announcements.

July 17 (Saturday Evening Lecture), 8:00 p.m.
Los Peñasquitos

Presenter: Erin Smith and Rachel Ruston

Title: “The Casa de Estudillo:  A story still being told through artifacts”

The Casa de Estudillo in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park has a history that spans over 180 years. The Spanish colonial adobe has served as the family home of Commander Jose Maria Estudillo, a chapel for the Presidio, and the tourist attraction “Ramona’s Marriage Place” from the romance novel Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson. Recent archaeological excavations were conducted in the Estudillo backyard; a multi-use activity area that has been highly disturbed over the past century.  While no intact deposits were uncovered, the site still yielded valuable archaeological data.  Notable artifacts include a ceramics collection that corresponds with each unique chapter of history at the Casa de Estudillo.

August 28 (Saturday Evening Lecture), 8:00 p.m.
Los Peñasquitos

Presenter: Arleen Garcia-Herbst

Title: “Soaring Over Sunrise: Managing Cultural Resources and Gaining an Understanding of Regional Prehistoric and Historic Human Behavior”

The Sunrise Powerlink project is a 118-mi. 230-kV/ 500‑kV transmission line traversing from the Imperial Valley Substation near El Centro in Imperial County to the Sycamore Canyon Substation near Interstate 15 in coastal San Diego County. The environmental studies required for this project have resulted in an extraordinary opportunity to study broad regional prehistoric and early historic behavior patterns in this region.

More than 400 cultural resource sites were identified along the project route. The cultural resources survey included the transmission line right of way, access roads, pull sites, and construction yards. The recorded cultural resources include prehistoric artifact scatters (including stone tools and ceramics), habitation sites, bedrock milling sites, rock features, as well as historic era sites, and sites that represent both the historic and prehistoric eras.

There was little evidence of Paleoindian or Archaic (10,000 to 1,000 BP) occupation along the project route; however, extensive Late Period occupation and landscape use was documented. This presentation will use information from the completed field work and from ethnographic sources to provide some developing ideas about Late Prehistoric landscape use along the project route.

Save the following dates for future programs - speakers to be determined:
Tues. Sept. 28; Oct. 26; & Nov. 23