San Diego Archaeological Center

12/30/2022

Archaeologists that worked on SDAC 754 believe they had collected the fragments of 3 different Night Watch Fresnel lanterns.

Like bottles, manufacturers left maker’s marks on lanterns to indicate their make/model. Without the other pieces of the lantern, these fragments are not dated absolutely. However, knowing they are from the R.E. Dietz Company in Syracuse, NY (as stamped on the glass), archaeologists on the project were able to give the object (and therefore the site) a date range of 1868-1992 based on the company’s history.

12/28/2022

What is it? Hint: The ridges on this lamp are for more than design aesthetic.

12/24/2022

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays

12/23/2022

A Consultant Site Visit Record (or CSVR) is a log that archaeologists and monitors use to provide specific details of monitoring activity on a construction site.

The CSVR accompanies a monitor log and keeps track of the work days as the project progresses. Even details such as the weather conditions are noted. This photo is an example of a Field Data Report with the location and names removed for security reasons.

12/21/2022

What is it? Hint: This section of concrete is a historic resource.

12/20/2022

Tis the season to give! As the year comes to a close, we ask for your continued support with our Annual Appeal campaign. Your contributions to the Center enable us to continue to fulfill our mission of preserving archaeological collections and promoting their educational, scientific, and cultural use to benefit a diverse public.

Make a Donation: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/donate/

12/16/2022

This unique symbol on the bottom of this bottle not only helps archaeologists date the object but also tells the story of who manufactured it.

This is a rare bottle with an overlapping G and C monogram, a logo of the Glass Container Corporation. Archaeologists working on this project date the bottle between 1954 and 1962 based on what they know about the manufacturer. Bottle experts have theories that for these types of bottles, the S refers to the plant code and the 5 refers to the date (likely 1955).

12/14/2022

Hint: The first of these was patented in 1878.

12/10/2022

The Center Library needs metal bookends or file organizers like the one shown here to separate archaeological reports on the shelves. If you have ones you would like to donate, email [email protected] or message us. Thank you!

12/09/2022

As part of an archaeological monitoring exhibit, or AME, archaeologists research the surrounding project area for past development information.

By doing so, the project scope may be narrowed and monitoring may occur in areas that have not yet been deemed culturally insignificant.

12/08/2022

SDAC 754 came into the Center in August 2022. Visit the virtual exhibit NEW ACQUISITIONS to learn more: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/new-acquisitions/

12/08/2022

Join us Saturday for two screenings of our Living Room Lectures by archaeologists, experts, and authors.

10:30 AM – Geoglyphs of the Desert Southwest by Anne Morgan
The deserts of the American southwest contain one of the largest concentrations of geoglyphs outside of Peru’s Nazca Lines. These ancient Native American works of earthen art can be up to hundreds of feet long, and yet are often invisible until viewed from above. Before drones, GPS, or Google Maps, photographer Harry Casey began a unique archaeology project. Armed with nothing more than topographic maps, 35mm film cameras, and his beloved Piper J3 Cub aircraft, Casey spent thirty-five years documenting the region’s geoglyphs before natural erosion and human intervention could destroy these fragile sites. Co-author Anne Morgan discusses their book, Geoglyphs of the Desert Southwest: Earthen Art as Viewed from Above, which collects Casey’s photographs into the first visual record of these beautiful and mysterious features.

12:30 PM – Communing with Earth and Ancestors: Ancient Maya Cave Rituals by Dr. John Spenard
The ancient Maya are perhaps best known for their jungle-covered cities with large plazas and grand temples standing taller than the forests encasing them. These built places are often depicted as the settings of elaborate state rituals where elites would perform their ceremonial duties in front of the masses. Yet important rituals were not performed only in cities. Archaeological research over the last few decades has come to reveal that caves and cave-like spaces were among the most potent and important places for ritual performances by the ancient Maya. They were the places where the ancestors originally emerged from and where they returned to after their passing. They were also portals to where powerful Earth forces, particularly the rain deity, could be ritually accessed and negotiated with. In this talk, Dr. Jon Spenard discusses his ongoing cave ritual research in Belize with a particular focus on understanding the relationship between cave rituals and the ancient Maya collapse.

More info: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/2nd-saturday-lecture-screenings/

12/07/2022

What is it? Hint: This is a type of lantern used in the mid-20th century.

12/07/2022

Looking for stocking stuffers for family and friends (or even yourself)? Give the gift of membership! Membership purchases are tax-deductible and support educational programs for all ages, museum exhibits on local archaeology, curation, and daily operations.

Purchase or Renew Membership: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/membership/

12/06/2022

Thank you to everyone who gave to our campaign! Through your generosity, we were able to raise $3,380 to purchase technology for our interns. We appreciate your support for training the archaeologists of the future.

12/03/2022

The Colorado Desert Archaeological Society is hosting a lecture on the Airplane Crash on Japacha Ridge on Dec 7 at 7 PM. Award-winning historian and preservationist Alexander D. Bevil will use historic photographsand maps to reveal a forgotten monument to America's military aviation history in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park's modern history: the search for missing U.S. Army aviators.

More info and registration: https://www.anzaborregoarchaeo.org/airplane-crash/

12/03/2022

Join us every 2nd Saturday of the month for two screenings of our Living Room Lectures by archaeologists, experts, and authors.

Next Saturday, December 10

10:30 AM – Geoglyphs of the Desert Southwest by Anne Morgan
The deserts of the American southwest contain one of the largest concentrations of geoglyphs outside of Peru’s Nazca Lines. Armed with nothing more than topographic maps, 35mm film cameras, and his beloved Piper J3 Cub aircraft, Harry Casey spent thirty-five years documenting the region’s geoglyphs before natural erosion and human intervention could destroy these fragile sites. Co-author Anne Morgan discusses their book, Geoglyphs of the Desert Southwest: Earthen Art as Viewed from Above, which collects Casey’s photographs into the first visual record of these beautiful and mysterious features.

12:30 PM – Communing with Earth and Ancestors: Ancient Maya Cave Rituals by Dr. John Spenard
Archaeological research over the last few decades has come to reveal that caves and cave-like spaces were among the most potent and important places for ritual performances by the ancient Maya. In this talk, Dr. Jon Spenard discusses his ongoing cave ritual research in Belize with a particular focus on understanding the relationship between cave rituals and the ancient Maya collapse.

More info: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/2nd-saturday-lecture-screenings/

12/02/2022

Glass bottles can be dated by looking for the maker’s mark left by the manufacturer.

This clear soda bottle has a maker’s mark dating it to 1959. Archaeologists are able to date sites by looking at indicators like maker’s marks on historic objects found during a dig and comparing them to each other, coming up with a date range. This bottle was collected and curated with the new acquisition SDAC 754.

12/01/2022

Donna Walker will be holding an artifact illustration class at the SDAC this Saturday at 10 AM. To register, call 858-829-5861 or email [email protected]. Cost is $35 (cash or check). Or register and pay using PayPal at https://walkerillustrations.blog. All supplies are included.

Donna is an artist and archaeological illustrator based in Valley Center, California. Recently, she has worked on several projects for the Anthropology Department at UC San Diego, illustrating Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age ceramics from Israel and Jordan.

11/30/2022

What is it? Hint: This part of the scraper would have been used to process plants, clean animal hides, or cut through animal flesh.

11/29/2022

We need your gift today to train the archaeologists of tomorrow. Our internship program provides students with real-world training for careers in archaeology and related fields. Your support can help us purchase the equipment needed to add video content to our internship training as well as equipment that interns can use at the Center.

Help us raise $5,000 to purchase technology for our interns. Donate: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/givingtuesday2022/

11/28/2022

Earlier this year, Public Archaeology Coordinator Vanessa Chappins introduced a training module that reinforces these in-person projects with virtual lessons. This new component of the internship allows us to accommodate more interns, especially in the Collections Department. Next year, we would like to add video content to clarify Collections and Library procedures.

Your support can help us purchase the equipment needed to add video content to our internship training as well as equipment that interns can use at the Center.

Donate: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/givingtuesday2022/

11/25/2022

Before development begins, the area of potential effects or APE must be identified. This is an example of what an APE would look like.

As per 36 CFR 800.16(d), from the National Historic Preservation Act, the area of potential effects (APE) is defined as “. . .the geographic area or areas within which an undertaking may directly or indirectly cause alterations in the character or use of historic properties, if any such properties exist.”

11/24/2022

11/23/2022

WHO is it? Hint: This President signed a law protecting cultural and historic heritage in 1966.

11/22/2022

Our internship program provides students with real-world training for careers in archaeology and related fields. Collections Management interns identify thousands of artifacts common to the San Diego region and become proficient in laboratory procedures while preparing archaeological collections for curation.

We need your gift today to train the archaeologists of tomorrow. Help us raise $5,000 to purchase technology for our interns on .

Donate: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/givingtuesday2022/

11/19/2022

The new acquisitions that come into the Center for collections stewardship play an important role in adding to research of the San Diego County archaeological record. Cultural resources, like this SCRAPER, give us important information about prehistoric San Diego and the Indigenous people living here thousands of years ago.

Visit our new blog New Acquisitions: A Closer Look: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/sdac-753/

11/18/2022

A Mitigated Negative Declaration, or an MND, is public and states that while the project falls on land that was potentially significant, requirements set forth in the MND will ensure that there are no negative effects on the environment if development moves forward.

California and San Diego County have laws in place that protect the environment. These laws include artifacts and cultural resources in the term environment, which helps protect the past from being destroyed during developments.

📷: Ken Lund on Flickr

11/17/2022

Support your SDAC for . We need your gift today to train the archaeologists of tomorrow. Will you help us raise $5,000 in just 24 hours to purchase technology for our interns?

Our internship program provides students with real-world training for careers in archaeology and related fields. Each intern completes at least 100 hours and creates a blog, video, or project to share their work with the public.
• Collections Management interns identify thousands of artifacts common to the San Diego region and become proficient in laboratory procedures while preparing archaeological collections for curation.
• Library Science interns arrange and catalog materials in the Center’s library while learning archival procedures and preventative conservation.
• Public Archaeology interns use the Center’s archaeological collections to design programs or museum exhibits.

Donate: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/givingtuesday2022/

11/16/2022

What is it? You want to keep your distance from these furry friends!

Photo: David A. Hofmann on Flickr

11/12/2022

www.pcas.org

Aharon Sasson, Philip Unitt, and Susan Arter of the San Diego Natural History Museum recently published a paper highlighting the identification of an arctic sea duck scapula from the prehistoric Kumeyaay village of Netí in Spring Valley. This paper examines the relations between inland sites and the Pacific coast through a zooarchaeological lens:

11/11/2022

CEQA is an important law in California requiring that all private and public activities be evaluated for the potential to impact the environment, including effects to historical and cultural resources.

It defines historical resources as “any object, building, structure, site, area, or place, which is historically significant in the architectural, engineering, scientific, economic, agricultural, educational, social, political, military, or cultural annals of California” (Division I, Public Resources Code, Section 5021.1(b) This law helps to protect cultural resources in San Diego County by requiring mitigation efforts on construction or earth disturbing projects in the state.

11/11/2022

Join us Saturday for two screenings of our Living Room Lectures by archaeologists, experts, and authors.

10:30 AM – Looking Down the Rabbit Hole: Santee Greens Revisited by Dr. Stan Berryman
The site of Santee Greens aka Michagua, a Late Holocene village over 29,000 square meters, was originally radiocarbon dated in 1980 and 1981. It showed two occupation periods, AD 760 to AD 1030 and AD 1735 to AD 1890. With the help of the San Diego Archaeological Center, Dr. Stan Berryman was able to use modern C14 dating techniques on 23 charcoal samples. With these “new” dates Dr. Berryman is revising our understanding of the work conducted by 40 archaeologists over a nearly three-year period. In this presentation, he will discuss a project that was conducted before there was a sub discipline of archaeology called cultural resource management, then take a look at the wide range of artifacts recovered and how they relate to and are explained by the C14 dates. He will also present a couple of projectile point styles, in particular the Dos Cabezas double side notch, that are found throughout the Western U.S. under the name Temporal. Finally, C14 dates and changes within the site will be examined.

12:30 PM – Amelia Earhart Archaeology: Testing the Nikumaroro Hypothesis by Dr. Tom King
Aviation pioneers Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan vanished over the Pacific in 1937. Since 1988 The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has been doing archaeology on Nikumaroro, a remote, uninhabited island where evidence suggests Earhart and Noonan may have landed and died. Tom King, who served as TIGHAR’s senior archaeologist until 2018, describes their work and the evidence uncovered to date.

More info: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/2nd-saturday-lecture-screenings/

11/10/2022

SDAC 753 came into the Center in August 2022. Only one isolate artifact was collected during the project. Visit the virtual exhibit NEW ACQUISITIONS to learn more: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/new-acquisitions/

11/09/2022

What is it? Hint: This is a texture of a topsoil that archaeologists sometimes work with.

11/08/2022

Living Room Lecture: Ancient Maya Archaeology of Belize

Join us Thursday for our virtual Living Room Lecture: Ancient Maya Archaeology of the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, Belize with Dr. Jon Spenard.

The Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve in central Belize is a unique landscape in the Maya lowlands. It is largely defined by a series of granitic upwellings that produce nutrient leached soils that are poor for farming, but the region is bordered by cave-filled limestone hills. Because of the poor soils, the ancient Maya were thought to have never lived there, but it was the source of many important economic resources, especially granite for making grinding stones. Research in 1928 demonstrated that the ancient Maya used at least some of the caves for ritual purposes, but where the participants came from remains unknown.

In 2018, Dr. Jon Spenard initiated his Rio Frio Regional Archaeological Project (RiFRAP) to address that question. Either the caves were long-distance pilgrimage destinations, or there were here-to-fore yet undocumented Maya sites in the region. The answer is the latter.

In this talk, Spenard presents on the recently documented ancient Maya site of Nohoch Batsó and the nearby Buffalo Hill quarries, a multi-component granitic rock quarry and ground stone tool manufactory.

Register 🔽

The Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve in central Belize is a unique landscape in the Maya lowlands. It is largely defined by a series of granitic upwellings that produce nutrient leached soils that are poor for farming, but the region is bordered by cave-filled limestone hills. Because of the poor....

11/05/2022

Join us every 2nd Saturday of the month for two screenings of our Living Room Lectures by archaeologists, experts, and authors.

Next Saturday, November 12
10:30 AM – Looking Down the Rabbit Hole: Santee Greens Revisited by Dr. Stan Berryman
The site of Santee Greens aka Michagua, a Late Holocene village over 29,000 square meters, was originally radiocarbon dated in 1980 and 1981. With the help of the San Diego Archaeological Center, Dr. Stan Berryman was able to use modern C14 dating techniques on 23 charcoal samples. With these “new” dates Dr. Berryman is revising our understanding of the work conducted by 40 archaeologists over a nearly three-year period.

12:30 PM – Amelia Earhart Archaeology: Testing the Nikumaroro Hypothesis by Dr. Tom King
Since 1988 The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has been doing archaeology on Nikumaroro, a remote, uninhabited island where evidence suggests Ameilia Earhart and Fred Noonan may have landed and died. Tom King, who served as TIGHAR’s senior archaeologist until 2018, describes their work and the evidence uncovered to date.

Screening schedule and more info: https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/2nd-saturday-lecture-screenings/