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Lost Secrets - an adventure during Neolithic times

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<< 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: 13630

MuseumsSite Name: Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display Alternative Name: CA-SCR-177 archaeological site
Country: United States
NOTE: This site is 24.239 km away from the location you searched for.

Region: The West Type: Museum
Nearest Town: Scotts Valley
Latitude: 37.049763N  Longitude: 122.018931W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
no data Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display
Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display submitted by peigimccann : Stone tools in the Scotts Valley City Hall display. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Quiet little Scotts Valley, between San José and Santa Cruz is the site of one of the most important archaeological finds in North America. CA-SCR-177 is the official name of The Scotts Valley archaeological dig conducted by Robert Cartier in the mid 80's. From the coordinates given you can look down toward Carbonera Creek which was blocked further downstream early in the Holocene creating a lake next to which you would be standing 10,000 years ago.

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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Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display
Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display submitted by peigimccann : Eccentric crescent in the Scotts Valley City Hall display. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display
Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display submitted by peigimccann : Burin tools in the Scotts Valley City Hall display. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display
Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display submitted by peigimccann : Mortar and pestle in the Scotts Valley City Hall display. (Vote or comment on this photo)

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"Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Re: Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display by ForestDaughter on Tuesday, 02 October 2018
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Fabulous finds, peigimccann. The eccentric crescent looks as if it might have represented an animal; a porcupine, anteater or bear maybe. Or maybe that's just me reading too much into it. Really interesting site.
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