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.”
That sounds nice! I was only California for a couple of weeks but the beach that I liked the best was the one at San Clemente. I drove there many times from Costa Mesa where I was staying. I went to San Juan Capistrano several times also Laguna Beach, Venice Beach, Oceanside, and Balboa Harbor etc. I even was able to walk through the hills of Santa Catalina Island. Someday I hope to go back to visit the Northern half of California! (Especially the Missions)
bump for later
Disturbing a sacred gravesite....Malibu’s going to burn for this!!!!
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