Posted on 10/17/2007 2:24:12 PM PDT by blam
Native American Skull Found at Malibu Construction Site
• State Native American Heritage Commission Initiates Process for Handling Find •
BY ANNE SOBLE
A human skull unearthed at a construction site in the Paradise Cove mobile home park has been officially declared a prehistoric Native American find, and the wheels have been put in motion for the remains to be handled in accord with state law. Workers preparing the foundation for a new mobile home in the beachside complex discovered the skull during routine digging Monday at about 4 p.m. and contacted the sheriff’s department. Capt. Ed Winter of the Operations Investigations Bureau of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said a “skeletal team,” including a forensics anthropologist, arrived at the scene a few hours later to study the artifact. Winter said the discovery was not surprising because there have been a number of finds of prehistoric Native American artifacts in the Paradise Cove area. The team’s consulting forensic anthropologist, Elizabeth Miller, a faculty member at Cal State L.A., said when she made the determination that the skull was a prehistoric artifact, that action took the matter out of the Coroner’s Office’s hands. Miller said her analysis was based on the age of the remains, first determined visually by “its brittleness, the morphology of the face’s ethnic characteristics and the wear on the teeth.”
The anthropologist said the teeth of most California Native Americans in pre-recorded history “are worn down to little nubs” because of the “large amount of grit in their diet.”
Miller’s determination of artifact status resulted in the skull being referred to the California Native American Heritage Commission in Sacramento, which did its own analysis of authenticity and, also having determined the skull to be Native American remains, has taken over its official disposition. Larry Myers, the executive secretary of the Native American Heritage Commission, said that a member of the Chumash people, having been declared “a most likely descendent,” has been selected to work with the property owner where the skull was found. Myers said the commission has a policy of not making the name of the descendents public. He said it was likely that individual has already made contact with the property owner and the developer of the parcel, but additional information was not available as The News went to press. There may be some additional legal issues in this case concerning how final arrangements for the skull will be worked out, as the land in the park is owned by the Kissel Company and leased to mobile home owners. According to Miller, there are a number of options for ways to honor human remains of Native American ancestors. The skull is presently protected in the location where it was found until disposition has been resolved. The skull could be buried in the spot it was found, placed somewhere else on the site and covered by construction, or it could be moved to a different location for a ceremonial ritual. Miller said there probably will be a request to do further excavation at the site, but she added, “Most property owners do not allow this.”
Requests for additional study at locations of other archaeological finds in Malibu have been rebuffed by owners who are under no legal obligation to allow additional study on their land. There were reports that the people constructing the foundation for a mobile home at the find site have spent a lengthy period of time on the process and were cautiously appraising this latest development. Miller said it is against federal law to own Native American remains or artifacts, but finds can legally be covered up, and the insights they might offer into California’s prehistory could be lost. She urged people to be careful where they dig and turn all finds over to the sheriff’s department. “Each find holds the potential to answer questions about the past.”
You know nothing of the sort, just spun this out of your own ignorance and resentment. Unbelievable how someone could come up with this.
Yes, mobile home parks in Malibu and in Pacific Palisades and all up and down the coast... what is so strange about that?
I have been there. The Rockford Files were filmed at Paradise Cove. Rockford's trailer was on the beach. Now the so called "stars" will not let anyone walk on the beach near Paradise Cove. As far as I know, it is against the law for rich movie actors and others to steal public beaches in California. They have made it off limits. They are destroying the environment in that place.
Do you live here? Paradise Cove beach is fully accessible and available to the public.
There are miles of public beach in Malibu, and I have enjoyed a few of them:
http://www.malibucomplete.com/mc_geography_beaches.php
The story is from last week, not last year...
http://www.canyon-news.com/artman2/publish/News_1153/Human_Skull_Found_in_Malibu.php
I have lived here in Hawaii for many many years and have seen this actually done. It happens quite often here. The laws are the same where this happened as in Hawaii as it is a federal law.
You can quit being a smart ass now.
Sorry about your kitty.
I think these paleao-Amerindian skeletons should be studied scientifically.
Unless the remains are historic, i.e. within the last few hundred years, its absolute balderdash and nonesense for any tribe to claim them as their “ancestors”. Most Amerindian tribes moved around quite a bit. Take the Shawnees for example - they moved from the mid-west to the gulf coast area and back to the midwest again. The Souix originated in Minnesota and moved out into the great plains when they acquired horses. And all of this movement is within historical times.
Iroqouian lingusitic groups - found in eastern North America, speak a language most closely related to Caddoan tribes who lived in Texas. Obviously SOMEBODY moved there.
So this constant political pandering over these historical artifacts is political correctness gone insane.
This all started because in recent historical times there was a ghoulish practise among whites to exhume the remains of recenly interred Indians and put them on exhibit for the curious and idle masses, particularly those individuals who had been outstanding warriors.
The situation was allowed to escalate under the Clinton regime as certain Native Americans persist in believing their ancestors were ALWAYS here and rsent any efforts to show connections with old world ancestors from Asia or anywhere else.
Thank you very much. I am still calling for her and looking for her. What a purr she had ...
Thanks again.
Why don’t the developers just make MORE money trying to sell the land off as a do it yourself archeology dig site? Think about the profits they can make by selling dig times for 5 bucks an hour to a hundred schoolkids every hour for 8 hours.
Unless the remains are historic, i.e. within the last few hundred years, its absolute balderdash and nonesense for any tribe to claim them as their “ancestors”.
...
As far as studying them, I agree.
As far as "ancestors" -- well, that is an ambiguous term.
Many of the fossil man finds are our ancestors; do we have a claim on studying or not studying them? No.
What about the 100,000-200,000 archaic humans being found? Who has a claim to study or prevent their study?
The question is where do you draw the line. Unfortunately, that is a political, rather than a scientific, question.
If a particular Indian group has a lot of casino money, and the ear of a legislator, they often get their way. Scientists are poor at lobbying, and often poor financially as well. They frequently lose the political battles even though their arguments are better. Been there, done that.
That doesn't make the "bury everything without study" opinion right, just very powerful.
But so far, Kennewick Man is being studied as intensely as any skeleton in North America, and then well beyond. I think that what we will learn from these studies will rewrite the story of North American colonization. I am still hoping that they will get DNA from that one gorgeous third molar.
But some of our legislators have snuck a two-word change into federal law that would give Kennewick Man back to one of the local tribes -- by changing the definition currently in the law. Probably some good campaign donations there!
In California, there are state laws which kick in when human remains are found.
Knowingly disturbing human remains can be a felony. Here is one applicable law:
California Public Resources Code 5097.99.(a) No person shall obtain or possess any Native American artifacts or human remains which are taken from a Native American grave or cairn on or after January 1, 1984, except as otherwise provided by law or in accordance with an agreement reached pursuant to subdivision (l) of Section 5097.94 or pursuant to Section 5097.98.
(b) Any person who knowingly or willfully obtains or possesses any Native American artifacts or human remains which are taken from a Native American grave or cairn after January 1, 1988, except as otherwise provided by law or in accordance with an agreement reached pursuant to subdivision (l) of Section 5097.94 or pursuant to Section 5097.98, is guilty of a felony which is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.
(c) Any person who removes, without authority of law, any Native American artifacts or human remains from a Native American grave or cairn with an intent to sell or dissect or with malice or wantonness is guilty of a felony which is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.
And a felony is serious stuff indeed. Not to be taken lightly.
At the risk of sounding crude and dredging up bad memories, at least there aren't any mudslides there. But, I've never actually been in Paradise Cove, so I'm not positive about that.
Most politician are just well-paid prostitutes. The only difference between them and honest hookers is they screw the people who DON’T pay them.
“But so far, Kennewick Man is being studied as intensely as any skeleton in North America, and then well beyond. I think that what we will learn from these studies will rewrite the story of North American colonization.”
I agree. I think early man arrived here long before Clovis and American colonization occurred in waves over an extended period of time. It is even possible early American men came from multiple sources - different areas of Asia, possibly from western Europe and possible from Africa.
To let politics block the investigations of science is nothing less than criminal. But then postitutes feel they are above the law anyway.
Actually, no, I live in Upstate NY. I visited Paradise Cove; there was a restaurant near where The Rockford Files were filmed. I saw a sign next to the damaged pier that said "No Trespassing." referring to the beach.
Thanks for the info.
Mexico isn't bound by the same laws...And, they have lots of 'unusual' skeletons.
Correct. And a number of skeletons were exported to various museums in Europe in the late 1800s, so they will still be available for research. Pretty sad, eh?
Well, I learned something too... those “in the know” just go around the signs and walk down by the tideline. I guess the wet sand is public and the dry sand is private? Sounds a little kooky, but hey it’s California...my goofy home...:)
Haven’t done it for awhile, but I like to go up to Point Dume and then walk down the stairway to Paradise Cove beach.
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