<< Our Photo Pages >> Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display - Museum in United States in The West
Submitted by peigimccann on Monday, 03 September 2018 Page Views: 13726
MuseumsSite Name: Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display Alternative Name: CA-SCR-177 archaeological siteCountry: United States Region: The West Type: Museum
Nearest Town: Scotts Valley
Latitude: 37.049763N Longitude: 122.018931W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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From the Scotts Valley Banner, by Lisa Levinson:
“Picture the scene: heavily forested mountains dipping down into marshy valleys spotted with lakes and gushing artesian springs. Indians live in villages around the largest lake hunting deer, elk, geese, and other wildlife. Occasionally, they trek to the distant ocean and collect shells and special rocks to make stone tools. This is what life was like in Scotts Valley 10,000 years ago, according to archaeologist Dr. Robert Cartier who excavated the prehistoric Indian village site beneath the city hall from 1982 through 1987.
"There are only 50 to 100 sites this old in the United States," said Cartier. "But this is probably the only one where people lived in one spot for over 10,000 years."
…
Scotts Valley has many archaeology sites because it was once on the shore of an ancient lake.
The lake’s edge was close to where the artifacts are located now. Cartier estimates between 5,000 and 15,000 years ago geologic activity caused landslides that plugged up Carbonero Creek with debris, creating a natural dam.The lake started to dry up when the latest ice age ended. As the lake receded, Indian villages moved from the city hall site toward Carbonero Creek.
"It is a cyclical lake," Cartier explained. "It dried out and will fill up again, but not in our lifetime. We are now in the driest time of the Ice Ages."
…
The first known people to inhabit the area around 13,000 years ago were the so-called Aruama Indians. Based on artifact similarities, Cartier says these people probably came from Asia.
The San Lorenzo Indians were the next group to arrive around 11,000 years ago. Then came the Umunhum Indians 8,000 years ago and the Scotts Valley Indians 6,000 years ago.
Artifacts, like stone tools or cooking instruments, tell the archaeologist how old a site is and differences between the way they were made tell who lived in it, said Cartier.
While excavating the city hall site, local college students and other volunteers unearthed approximately 10,000 artifacts, like spear points, food processing tools, and charcoal samples from campfires. A sandstone metate, for grinding nuts, was so old it crumbled to dirt.
Due to the acidity of the soils in Scotts Valley, no bones, shells or wood were recovered.
Cartier and his team used three techniques to date the artifacts: radiocarbon testing, obsidian hydration, and artifact typing.
…
"The laboratory results from the charcoal samples were really a surprise to us," Cartier said. "We didn’t expect anything over 4,000 years old, but the results showed at least 9,000 years old." Initially written off as a laboratory error, repeated tests showed these results were correct, making national news."
…
To see a display of many of the artifacts along with photos and explanations of the digs go to the Scotts Valley City Hall and go through the main entrance to the hall behind the reception area. There in the display case you will see spearheads, hammerstones, burin drillpoints, and a unique bifacially flaked eccentric crescent.
There are no arrowheads in the display since these entered the area relatively recently only 600 years ago.
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