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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGPA 06-09; Muroya Subdivision; General Plan Amendment (GPA) (12)1927 Fifth Avenue San Diego, CA 92101 p 619.308.9333 F 619.308.9334 525 W. Wetmore Rd., Ste 111 Tucson. Al. 85705 p 520.325.9977 F 520.293.3051 www.reconenvironmentaf.com RECON A Company of Specialists January 19, 2012 Mr. Jay Jordan Construction Management & Inspection City of Carlsbad 5950 El Camino Real Carlsbad, CA 92008-8802 1504 West Fifth Street Austin, TX 78703 p 512.478.0858 F 512.474.1849 Reference: Archaeological Monitoring Services for the Muroya Subdivision Project No. CT 06-27 (RECON Number 6259A) Dear Mr. Jordan: 2027 Preisker Lane, Ste. G Santa Maria, CA 93454 p 619.308.9333 F 619.308.9334 The following letter is submitted to document the cultural resource monitoring program for the Muroya Subdivision Project (Project No. CT 06-27) in the city of Carlsbad. The project consists of subdividing a 20.27 -acre parcel into five lots. Two of the lots will be developed, two will be open space, and the third is currently developed and will have no additional work. The archaeological monitoring program at Muryoa was undertaken to fulfill City of Carlsbad cultural resources mitigation requirements in the Mitigated Negative Declaration for the project. A qualified RECON archaeologist was present between November 30 and December 16, 2011, to identify, evaluate, and record any buried cultural resources uncovered during the excavations. No potentially significant cultural resources were found during the monitored grading of the property. 1.0 Introduction The Muryoa Subdivision project is on the west side of Black Rail Road, south of Poinsettia Lane and north of Aviara Parkway. Batiquitos Lagoon is approximately 1 mile south and the Pacific Ocean is approximately 1.75 miles to the west (Figure 1 ). The property is surrounded by residential developments. The property is in the northeast 1/4 of the northwest 1/4 of Section 27, Township 12 South, Range 4 West of the USGS 7.5 minute series, Encinitas California Quadrangle (Figure 2). Roughly speaking, the northeastern half of the property has been impacted by an abandoned nursery site and a single-family dwelling (Figure 3). The eastern edge of the property has been cut down below original ground elevation between approximately 2 and 14 feet. The southwestern half of the property is a drainage with small side channels that has been undeveloped. Non-native weeds covered much of the old nursery site, which was graded flat in the past. Vegetation in the drainage is predominately coastal sage scrub, dominated by California sagebrush (Artemisia cafifomica), black sage (Salvia me/litera), and California buckwheat (Eriogonum fascicu/atum), and patches of chamise (Adenostoma fascicufatum). Elevations on the property range from approximately 220 feet above mean sea level to approximately 300 feet above mean sea level. Pacific Ocean RECON * Project Location M:UOBS4\6259\common_gis\fig1.mxd 5/2612011 0 Miles FIGURE 1 Regional Location c:J Project Boundary RECON M:\JOBS4\6259\common_gis\fig2_arc.mxd 1/12/2012 0 Feet FIGURE 2 Project Location on USGS Map .. 0 Feet [:::::J Project Boundary FIGURE 3 REC O N M:\JOBS4\6259\common_gislfig3_arc.mxd 1/12/2012 Muroya Project Location on Aerial Photograph Mr. Jay Jordan Page 2 January 19,2012 2.0 Cultural Setting The prehistoric cultural sequence in San Diego County is generally conceived as comprising three basic periods: the Paleoindian, dated between about 11,500 and 8,500 years ago and manifested by the artifacts of the San Dieguito Complex; the Archaic, lasting from about 8,500 to 1 ,500 years ago (a. d. 500) and manifested by the cobble and core technology of the La Jollan Complex; and the Late Prehistoric, lasting from about 1,500 years ago to historic contact (i.e., a. d. 500 to 1769) and represented by the Cuyamaca Complex. This latest complex is marked by the appearance of ceramics, small arrow points, and cremation burial practices. The Paleoindian Period in San Diego County is most closely associated with the San Dieguito Complex, as identified by Rogers (1938, 1939, 1945). The San Dieguito assemblage consists of well-made scraper planes, choppers, scraping tools, crescentics, elongated bifacial knives, and leaf-shaped points. The San Dieguito Complex is thought to represent an early emphasis on hunting (Warren et al. 1993). The Archaic Period in coastal San Diego County is represented by the La Jolla Complex, a local manifestation of the widespread Millingstone Horizon. This period brings an apparent shift toward a more generalized economy and an increased emphasis on seed resources, small game, and shellfish. The local cultural manifestations of the Archaic Period are called the La Jollan Complex along the coast and the Pauma Complex inland. Pauma Complex sites lack the shell that dominates many La Jollan sites. Along with an economic focus on gathering plant resources, the settlement system appears to have been more sedentary. The La Jollan assemblage is dominated by rough, cobble-based choppers and scrapers, and slab and basin metates. Large side-notched and Elko series projectile points appeared late in the period. Large deposits of marine shell at coastal sites argue for the importance of shellfish gathering to the coastal Archaic economy. Near the coast and in the Peninsular Mountains beginning approximately 1,500 years ago, patterns began to emerge which suggest the ethnohistoric Kumeyaay. This period is characterized by higher population densities and elaborations in social, political, and technological systems. Economic systems diversify and intensify during this period, with the continued elaboration of trade networks, the use of shell-bead currency, and the appearance of more labor-intensive, but effective technological innovations. The late prehistoric archaeology of the San Diego coast and foothills is characterized by the Cuyamaca Complex. It is primarily known from the work of D.L. True at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park (True 1970). The Cuyamaca Complex is characterized by the presence of steatite arrowshaft straighteners, steatite pendants, steatite comales (heating stones), Tizon Brownware pottery, ceramic figurines reminiscent of Hohokam styles, ceramic "Yuman" bow pipes, ceramic rattles, miniature pottery, various cobble-based tools (e.g., scrapers, choppers, hammerstones), bone awls, manos and metates, mortars and pestles, and Desert Side- Notched (more common) and Cottonwood Series projectile points. The project is at the boundary of the Kumeyaay and Luiseno ethnographic groups. According to Luomola (1978), Kumeyaay territory traditionally extended north to the San Luis Rey River mouth and south to approximately Todos Santos Bay in the south. The boundary was fluid, however, and Spanish missionaries noted that the Kumeyaay had been displaced to near Agua Hedionda by encroaching Luiseno (Lumola 1978). Bean and Shipek (1978) state that Luiseno territory extended from about Agua Hedionda Creek on the south to near Aliso Creek, north of the San Juan Capistrano Mission, on the north. As another example of the fluid nature of the boundary between Luiseno and Kumeyaay territory, Pigniolo (1992) relates that the Kumeyaay would travel into Luiseno territory to obtain Piedra de Lumbre chert from the source area. The source area for Piedra de Lumbre chert is over 20 miles north of Agua Hedionda. The Kumeyaay traditionally maintained a system of patrilineal, patrilocal, exogamous sibs that were distributed within a territorially associated band structure (Luomala 1978:602; Shipek 1982:297; Gifford 1973:378). The household was the primary social structure and consisted of a married couple together with their unmarried children, married sons, and families Mr. Jay Jordan Page 3 January 19, 2012 (May 1975). At any one time, the Kumeyaay band usually maintained a main village and several outlying villages (May 1975; Shipek 1982:297; Luomala 1978:597). Since the economy was based on intensive utilization of locally available natural resources, these settlements were more or less temporary. Residential units often split into their constituent clans when movement to other areas was necessitated either by seasonal changes or by local overexploitation. The ethnographic group abutting the Kumeyaay to the north is the Luiseno. The Luiseno are the most southwesterly of the Shoshonean or Uto-Aztecan speakers. Luisefio territory encompassed much of northern San Diego and Orange counties. Luiseno settlement systems have been carefully reconstructed on the basis of extensive ethnographic and ethnohistoric research (Bean and Shipek 1978; Kroeber 1925; Sparkman 1908; Strong 1929; White 1963). White (1963:117) suggested that the average inland rancheria had a territory of approximately 30 square miles. He suggested that the Luisefio settlement system consisted of a series of villages or rancherias located on terraces above a valley bottom watercourse (e.g., the San Luis Rey River). The rancheria owned territory in a contiguous strip leading from the valley bottom to upland areas. This vertical pattern of rancheria territory facilitated gathering plant foods through the year. In fall, the people moved temporarily to higher elevations (e.g., Palomar Mountain) for the acorn harvest (White 1963:121). The material culture among both of these ethnohistorically known groups was quite similar. A wide range of tools was made of locally available and also imported materials. Numerous other flaked stone tools were made including scrapers, choppers, flake-based cutting tools, and bifacial knives. Preferred stone types were locally available metavolcanics, quartz, and chert among the Luisefio. Obsidian was imported from the deserts to the north and east. Ground stone objects include mortars and pestles typically made of fine-grained granite. Mortars are associated with grinding acorns, although a variety of other materials were processed in them as well (Yohe et al. 1991). Simple basin metates and cobble manos were also used for grinding grass seeds and other items. The manufacture and use of native ceramic vessels was also common to both of these groups. The Spanish period in Alta California (1769-1821) represents a time of European exploration and settlement. Military and religious contingents established the San Diego Presidio and the San Diego Mission in 1769. In 1798, Mission San Luis Rey de Francia was founded on the San Luis Rey River in the present-day city of Oceanside. Mission San Luis Rey is approximately 8.5 miles north of the project. The mission system also introduced horses, cattle, sheep, and agricultural goods and implements as well as new construction methods and architectural styles. During the Mexican period (1821-1848), the missions were secularized, opening vast tracts of former mission lands for private use and settlement. The numerous grants dramatically expanded the rancho system. The southern California economy became increasingly based on cattle ranching. The project property is just south of Rancho Agua Hedionda, located near the eastern edge of the rancho. Rancho Agua Hedionda was granted to Juan Maria Marr6n in 1843 (Pourade 1969). The original grant was for 13,311 acres, and extended from the Pacific Ocean almost to the present-day city of Vista. The Mexican period ended when Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, concluding the Mexican-American War. The great influx of Americans and Europeans, beginning with the Gold Rush in the summer of 1848, eliminated many remaining vestiges of Native American culture. The American homestead system encouraged settlement beyond the coastal plain into areas where Indians had retreated to avoid the worst of Spanish and Mexican influences (Carrico 1987; Cook 1976). Juan Maria Marr6n died in 1853, and his wife and children continued to run the rancho through the rest of the 1850s. The rancho was leased by the Marron family to Francis Hinton in 1860 for $6,000. In 1865, Francis Hinton assumed ownership of the rancho (Pourade 1969). When Hinton died in 1870, the ranch passed to his foreman, Robert Kelly. Members of Kelly's family homesteaded approximately 10,000 acres south of the rancho in the late 1860s. The arrival of the California Southern Railroad to the Carlsbad area in 1881 greatly aided access from the coastal communities, at the time very small, to San Diego. John Frazerfound an artesian spring on his 127-acre homestead in the mid- Mr. Jay Jordan Page4 January 19, 2012 1880s, and in 1886 he sold the property to G. Schutte and S. C. Smith (City of Carlsbad 2010). Schutte and Smith founded the town of Carlsbad, named after the famous health spa in Karlsbad, Bohemia (City of Carlsbad 2010). 3.0 Previous Work for the Project The project property was surveyed in 1982, and one site, CA-SDI-6754, was recorded on the property. In 1989, RECON tested SDI-6754 as part of the Aviara Development project. As the Muroya property was not part of the Aviara project, the majority of SDI-6754 was not on the Aviara property. RECON obtained permission from the property owner to include all of SDI-6754 in the testing program. Testing determined that SDI-6754 was not significant under California Environmental Quality Act guidelines based on a lack of intact surface deposits, disturbed condition of the surface element of the site, and the limited scientific value of the remaining site data (Cheever 1989). Michael Brandman Associates resurveyed the project property in 2006. Michael Brandman Associates noted that the recorded location of SDI-6754 was covered by "nursery soils," and no cultural material or soil irregularities were noted. 4.0 Monitoring Procedures RECON archaeologist Harry Price attended the preconstruction meeting at the Carlsbad City offices on November 17, 2011. E~her RECON archaeologist Harry Price or RECON monitor Ken Moslak was present during vegetation clearing and excavation of all native soils on the property between November 21 and December 16, 2011. Excavation was done using caterpillar tractors, backhoe loaders, and tractor scrapers. The field monitor communicated with the field construction crew and the grading contractor for information on the excavation schedule. Personal safety gear was wom by the monitor at all times in the field and consisted of work boots, a reflective high-visibility safety vest, and a hard hat. The monitor watched the excavation from a distance that was safe, but still allowed good visibility of the area being excavated and the soil being removed. Excavated areas were walked between tractor or scraper passes when the time interval between passes allowed. Notes were taken for all days the monitor was present on-site, and are available from RECON upon request. 5.0 Monitoring Results Monitoring began on November 21, 2011, with clearing of weeds on the property. Weed removal proceeded slowly, so there was time to walk the entire area to be developed. The weed cover did not completely mask the ground surface, and weed removal only disturbed the upper 8-10 centimeters of soil. The RECON monitor only watched weeding for the first 1.5 hours. It was felt that since the ground surface had been heavily disturbed by the nursery operation and there was obvious nursery-related soil covering much of the site, no information would be gained by continued observation of the weeding. Grading of the project site began on November 30, 2011, in the southeast corner of the property. Over the next several days, grading moved to the north and west (Photograph 1). Over most of the site only a thin layer of slopewash and topsoil remained, and this was disturbed by burying of irrigation lines and plowing associated with the nursery operations. A small drainage in the southeast corner had been filled with soil, but it could not be determined if the soil was from material graded from on-site or imported. Soil had also been pushed off the mesa edge onto the canyon slopes. The Linda Vista formation sandstone was encountered at depths ranging from 10-30 centimeters below the surface over the graded portion of the site (Photographs 2-3). The Linda Vista formation ranges in color from a dark orange to a light orange-yellow. In many areas the Linda Vista formation had been broken up by plowing, and the topsoils and sandstone were mixed. In a swale in the northwest corner of graded area the topsoil was thicker, up to 70 centimeters R EC O N PHOTOGRAPH 1 View Looking South along Eastern Side of Property Showing Yellowish Linda Vista Formation PHOTOGRAPH 2 Cut Showing Thin Layer of Dark Brown Topsoil Bleeding Into Yellowish Linda Vista Formation M IJOBS416259\arclgraphtcslphotos tndd 01/19112 REC O N PHOTOGRAPH 3 Looking North at Center of Property Showing Orange Linda Vista Formation PHOTOGRAPH 4 Looking North at Swale in Northwest Corner of Property Showing Dark Topsoil and Linda Vista Formation M IJOBS416259\arc\graphteslphotos ondd 01119112 Mr. Jay Jordan Page 5 January 19, 2012 (Photograph 4). Some fire-affected rock (FAR) and marine shell fragments were observed in this soil, but plastic fragments, flower pot pieces, and other recent trash were also present. It appeared the soil had been graded off the low knoll to the south of the swale during the nursery operations, and the FAR and shell probably came from there and possibly other parts of the northern portion of the property. No intact, possibly significant prehistoric or historic cultural material was found during the archaeological monrtoring. The shell and FAR were determined to not be potentially significant cultural resources, as they were in a heavily disturbed context and their original location could not be accurately determined. They were probably remnants of SDI-6754, which had been pushed into the swale during nursery operations. SDI-6754 had been determined mitigated by RECON in 1989, and this additional material could not add to the existing information about the site. 6.0 Recommendations This report was prepared in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act and with policies and procedures of the City of Carlsbad. To the best of our knowledge, the statements and information contained in this report are accurate. No potentially significant cultural material was observed during the monitoring at the Muroya Subdivision Project. RECON feels no additional cultural resources work is necessary for this project. Please call if you have any questions or concerns about this project. Sincerely, -/r£/J!Zj Harry J Price Project Archaeologist HJP:sjg cc: Tom Baine, Taylor Morrison of CA, LLC References Cited Bean, L. J., and F. Shipek 1978 Luisefio. In California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, pp. 550-563. Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 8, William G. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Carlsbad, City of 2010 History of Carlsbad on the City of Carlsbad Web site, www.carlsbadca.govl abouVhistoryiPagesldefault.aspx. Accessed August 8. Carrico, Richard l. 1987 Strangers in a Stolen Land. American Indians in San Diego 1850-1880. Sierra Oaks Publishing, Newcastle, California. Cheever, Dayle M. 1989 Cultural Resource Significance Testing at SDi-6753, SDo-6754, SDo-6819, and SDo- 2046: Four Prehistoric Sites Wrthin the Aviara Development, Carlsbad, California. RECON job No. R-17 45A. Unpublished manuscript on file at RECON Environmental, 1927 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA Mr. Jay Jordan PageS January 19,2012 Cook, Shelburne F. 1976 The Population of the California Indians, 1769-1970. University of California Press, Berkeley. Kroeber, A. L. 1925 Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 78. Smithsonian Institution, Washington. Luomala, Katherine 1978 Tipai-lpai. In California, edited by Robert F. Heizer, pp. 592-609. Handbook of North American Indians, val. 8, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. May, Ronald V. 1975 A Brief Survey of Kumeyaay Ethnography. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly 11(4):1-25. Pigniolo, Andrew Robert 1992 Distribution of Piedra de Lumbre "Chert" and Hunter-Gatherer Mobility and Exchange in Southern California. Master thesis. Department of Anthropology, San Diego State University. Pourade, Richard F. 1969 Historic Ranchos of San Diego. A Copley Book, Union-Tribune Publishing, San Diego. Rogers, M. J. 1938 Archaeological and Geological Investigations of the Culture Levels in an Old Channel of San Dieguito Valley. Carnegie Institution of Washington Yearbook 37:344-45. 1939 Early Lithic Industries of the Lower Basin of the Colorado River and Adjacent Desert Areas. San Diego Museum of Man Papers 3. 1945 An Outline of Yuman Prehistory. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 1(2):167-198. Shipek, Florence C. 1982 Kumeyaay Socio-Political Structure. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 4(2):96-303. Sparkman, Philip S. 1908 The Culture of the Luiseno Indians. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 8(4):187-234. Strong, William 1929 Aboriginal Society in Southern California. University of California Publications in American Archeology and Ethnology 26:1-358. Warren, Claude N., Gretchen Siegler, and Frank Dittmer 1993 Paleoindian and Early Archaic Periods. In Historic Properties Background Study for the City of San Diego Clean Water Program. On file with City of San Diego Clean Water Program and Mooney Associates, San Diego. White, Raymond 1963 Luiseno Social Organization. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 48(2):91-194. • Mr. Jay Jordan Page7 January 19, 2012 Yohe, Robert M., Margaret E. Newman, and Johan S. Schneider 1991 Immunological Identification of Small-Mammal Proteins on Aboriginal Milling Equipment. American Antiquity 56:679-666.