THE TOPANGA CULTURE
FINAL REPORT ON EXCAVATIONS, 1948
BY A. E. TREGANZA AND A. BIERMAN
ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
Vol. 20, No. 2
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS
Editors (Los Angeles): C. W. Meighan, Harry Hoijer, Eshref Shevky
Volume 20, No. 2, pp. 45-86, plates 17-24, 6 figs., 3 maps
Submitted by editors July 15, 1957
Issued March 27, 1958
Price, $1.00
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles
California
Cambridge University Press
London, England
Manufactured in the United States of America
CONTENTS
_Page_
Introduction 45
Review of Earlier Work at the Tank Site 47
Location and Description of Sites 47
Summary of Sites 51
Field Techniques 51
Features 53
Burials 54
Description of Artifacts 55
Flaked Tools 55
Scraper Planes 56
Scrapers 56
Choppers 59
Crescentic Stone or "Amulet" 59
Drill or Reamer 59
Hand Pick 59
Projectile Points 59
Small "Dart" Points 61
Large Blades and Large Points 61
Ground or Pecked Stone 63
Manos and Metates 63
Mortars 65
Pestles 65
Abrading Stones 65
Cog Stones 65
Stone Disks 66
Rubbing Stones 67
Core Hammerstones 67
Cobble Hammerstones 67
Slate Pendants 67
Miscellaneous Artifacts 67
Bone Implements 68
Other Remains 68
Unworked Bone and Shell 68
Fossil Remains 68
Pigments 68
Excavation of Site LAn-2 69
Disposal of the Dead 70
Description of Artifacts 70
Flaked Tools 70
Projectile Points 70
Ground or Pecked Stone 71
Metates 71
Manos 71
Mortars 71
Pestles 71
Rubbing Stones 71
Stone Disks 71
Pendants 71
Other Remains 71
Unworked Bone and Shell Remains 71
Summary and Conclusion 72
Bibliography 76
Plates 79
_MAPS_
1. Topanga Canyon facing 49
2. Tank Site LAn-1 facing 53
3. Site LAn-2 69
_FIGURES_
1. Location of Features and Burials 55
2. Scraper Plane Types 57
3. Scraper Types 58
4. Projectile Points 60
5. Metate Types 62
6. Mano Types 64
_TABLES_
1. Burials LAn-1 54
2. Frequency of Scraper Planes by Depth 56
3. Frequency of Flaked Artifacts by Depth 59
4. Projectile Points 61
5. Mano Types 63
6. Burial Data on Site LAn-2 70
7. Flaked Tools and Materials from LAn-2 70
8. Suggested Chronology of Early Milling and
Hunting Cultures of Southern California 74
THE TOPANGA CULTURE FINAL REPORT ON EXCAVATIONS, 1948
BY A. E. TREGANZA AND A. BIERMAN
INTRODUCTION
The year 1946 marked the discovery of the Tank Site by Robert F. Heizer
and Edwin M. Lemert. Their work was synthesized in a paper entitled
"Observations on Archaeological Sites in Topanga Canyon, California"
(Heizer and Lemert, 1947). Here, so far as the small sample from test pits
and surface collections permitted, they briefly defined the Topanga
Culture, described the artifacts related to it, and indicated its possible
cultural associations. Heizer and the senior author of the present paper
were convinced that the Tank Site could fruitfully be further examined in
the light of large-scale excavation. This was considered necessary to
determine more closely the context of the Topanga artifacts, and the
nature of the occupation here expressed. The answers to these two problems
should contribute importantly to our understanding of the archaeology of
southern California.
In the spring of 1947 R. L. Beals, of the University of California, Los
Angeles, and R. F. Heizer, of the University of California, Berkeley,
agreed to sent a joint party into the field the following summer. This
coöperation between the two institutions marked a new step in furthering
the progress of archaeological research in California, and gave students
an opportunity to participate in active field research. In June, 1947, the
senior author, assisted by Miss Consuelo Malamud, a graduate student at
UCLA, initiated excavation at the Tank Site. Undergraduate and graduate
students from both campuses of the university as well as from San
Francisco State College acted as volunteer workers. The results of this
investigation have appeared under the title, "The Topanga Culture: First
Season's Excavation of the Tank Site, 1947" (Treganza and Malamud, 1950).
The activities of the first season should have brought to light a fairly
representative sample from the site, but time imposed certain limitations,
and much of what was uncovered only added to the list of problems.
Further, the Tank Site as a unit was, presumably, known with some
certainty, but there was little comparative material in which to frame the
results. Therefore, three major lines of evidence remained to be
investigated: (1) Additional excavation was necessary to verify the
possible stratigraphy noted and to fill out the burial data and certify
the typology established on the basis of the finds to date. Moreover, the
Tank Site had demonstrated itself to be a deposit of unusual interest and
importance; whatever added knowledge could be gained from it would be
valuable. (2) LAn-2, just west of the Tank Site, required more intensive
examination. From surface collections and test pits it was apparent that
this site afforded clues to the interpretation and extension of the
stratigraphy noted at the Tank Site, and it might represent a cultural
development heretofore undescribed for the area. (3) A survey of the
canyon should be undertaken so that the Topanga Culture could be viewed
beyond its narrowly known confines. The problem was to gain an estimate of
the number of lithic sites within the canyon drainage, and the points of
similarity and difference between these and the Tank Site.
With the above three problems in mind, archaeological investigations were
renewed in Topanga Canyon on the same coöperative basis as the previous
year. We are indebted to the following students, drawn from the three
state institutions mentioned above, for volunteering their time and
energies in behalf of the project: Richard Bachenheimer, Alan Beals, Hal
Eberhart, Robert Farrell, David Frederickson, William King, Harland
Kinsey, Joseph Kreisler, Donald Lathrap, Albert Mohr, Arnold Pilling, and
Barbara Wyman. The authors acted, respectively, as field director and
assistant field director. Agnes Bierman and Albert Mohr are responsible
for most of the field photography, mapping, and surveying.
The general conclusions reached in 1947 were not substantially altered by
the additional excavation. Nor did it help to solve all the dubious
aspects of the Topanga Culture. As might be expected, it led, rather, to
the formulation of further questions. However, new specimens and more
complete data add fullness to this report, and it is hoped these will
increase its utility for comparative studies.
With respect to physiographic location and archaeological assemblage, the
Tank Site does not conform to other sites previously known for the general
environs. Comparisons with the earliest horizon yet recognized to the
north, the Oak Grove of the Santa Barbara region (Rogers, D. B., 1929),
seem to offer the most satisfactory parallels as related to mortuary
practices and milling activities; however, inasmuch as the Oak Grove
Culture is not characterized as having a well-defined flake and core
industry we are forced through necessity to seek further comparative data
as expressed in the cultural inventory of the San Dieguito complex in the
extreme southern coastal area of southern California and among the remains
from the region of ancient Lake Mohave in the eastern desert. It is both
interesting and a problematical that here at Topanga we find in a single
cultural complex an almost complete record of all the recognized cultural
elements typifying early man in southern California. In addition to this
early-man complex there remains a residue of material which appears to be
best associated with cultural traits characteristic of a "middle" time
position. Such middle cultures can be tentatively identified with Point
Dume, the lower levels of Malaga Cove, the Little Sycamore, the Hunting
Culture of Santa Barbara, the Pinto-gypsum of the desert, and the La Jolla
phases of San Diego although the latter are at present poorly defined. At
the Tank Site (LAn-1) these traits, which are of "middle" position, have
been named Topanga Phase II, and significantly enough they are confined to
the upper 18 inches of the deposit. Site LAn-2, excavated this season,
proved to be almost exclusively Phase II from top to bottom. Since these
two sites occupy almost contiguous positions and with the distribution of
cultural elements being such as it is, the suggested cultural stratigraphy
observed in 1947 seems to be fairly well confirmed.
In addition to the economic and subsistence aspects we now know something
concerning the socioreligious patterns as practiced at the Tank Site.
Disposal of the dead is expressed in three forms: (1) primary inhumation
in the flesh; (2) partial reburials under metates; and (3) fractional
burials with interment of leg bones only. This variation in a single site
is of interest. Formality appears present only in the first form; here all
the bodies were fully extended with the heads orientated toward the south.
Other than manos and metates, mortuary offerings were rare. In only one
instance (Treganza and Malamud, 1950, burial 3) did we find what could be
called a positive artifact association, that of a chert blade and a quartz
crystal.
Artifacts of apparent nonutilitarian usage leave us with the convenient,
but not to satisfactory, classification of "ceremonial." It is only
through inference that we can assume functional use in ceremonies of such
objects as cog stones and a variety of stone disks. Since the
spindle-shaped charm stone and the stone cogs and disks appear to be
nearly mutually exclusive of one another in their distribution between
central and southern California, it is not improbable that the latter
constitute the "charm-stones" of the south.
Too frequently typological construct and metric measurements lead to
sterility of interpretation divorced of any humanistic concept. At one
time the Tank Site was occupied by a living culture and to some degree the
occupants must have participated in activities other than those
surrounding a fulfillment of a food economy. To this point it is difficult
to explain large lithic concentrations consisting of unworked stone,
broken metates and manos, core tools, and occasional sections of human
long bones. Such occurrences are too large and too frequent to have
resulted from mere chance, and for this reason we have given them the term
"features." The material content of these aggregations suggests refuse
dumps of worn out and broken implements, but if so they would collectively
have occupied a considerable part of the central living area. Conceivably
their central location could suggest some ceremonial involving the concept
of a "shrine." That these features could represent some manifestation of
the "Annual Mourning Ceremony" seems most dubious. Irrespective of the
probability that the Mourning Ceremony is ancient in southern California
the differences in cultural inventory and time between the Tank Site and
the early and historic phases of the Gabrielino are such that it would be
wishful thinking to imply any historical connection.
Earlier the Topanga Culture as depicted by the Tank Site has been
characterized as largely constituting a seed-gathering economy. This
characterization rests upon the presence of a large number of manos and
metates as opposed to the decided rarity of projectile points and the near
absence of mammal bone in the site deposit. Some what of a problem is the
high ratio of core and flake tools. In American archaeology it has been
popular to assume that flaked lithic assemblages automatically imply a
hunting and skin-dressing economy. Possibly this assumption represents an
Old World hangover with its overemphasis upon faunal associations merely
because of their tangible nature as opposed to the lack of preservation of
organic plant remains. In the light of all evidence, the situation at the
Tank Site strongly suggests the possibility of alternative interpretations
up to the point where we might consider a dual usage, or if the data
permit, emphasize either a plant or animal economy.
During the first season's excavations it was our belief that the area
excavated at the Tank Site was, so far as we knew, undisturbed, and any
conclusions reached rested upon that basis. It is significant to note that
during this season, as a result of our regional survey, we contacted a man
named Trujillo, a resident of Topanga Canyon for some sixty years, and
from him we gained considerable information pertaining to the Tank Site
and the Topanga Culture in general. Mr. Trujillo informed us that it was
his practice for some years before 1920 to plant a small hay crop over the
area we were presently excavating, and prior to the first planting he had
removed numerous oaks and pointed out a now dead, native black walnut that
was alive during his earlier days of cultivation. Mr. Trujillo was fully
aware that this was an archaeological site and told us he was forced to
move many metates and large stones away from the area under cultivation.
This action on his part may account in some measure for the somewhat
reduced number of large stones in the very upper levels of the site (0 to
8 inches). As the habitation deposit occupies the very top of a knoll, the
frequent plowing must have increased surface erosion to some degree.
Unknown to us earlier were two springs near the Tank Site which possibly
had some bearing on the original selection of this local. It was through
Mr. Trujillo that these springs and several additional Topanga Culture
sites were found. Mr. Trujillo, in his own way, had come to recognize
these metate- and mano-bearing sites to be old and contrasted, as he says,
"with the sites down along the creek where the soil is soft and dark with
some sea shell and where mortars occur and the burials are all folded up."
Such characteristics are typical of sites occurring in the protohistoric
and historic period.
Probably most significant of this season's work was the partial excavation
of LAn-2 located on the same ridge and about 350 yards below the Tank
Site. Through our efforts here we were able to confirm the suspected
stratigraphy in the Tank Site and, at least partly, define Phase II of the
Topanga Culture. Of greatest contrast is the appearance of flexed burials
and the exclusive occurrence of light projectile points. Although core and
flake tools are still present, a definite shift occurs in the material
from which they are made and the tools themselves do not dominate the
cultural inventory.
From the Tank Site the artifact yield per cubic foot almost doubled that
of the 1947 season. From the removal of approximately 2,496 cubic feet of
mound we obtained 5,895 typable artifacts (all specimens and original data
for 1947-1948 are now deposited in the Museum of Anthropology, University
of California, Berkeley) or on the average of 2.3 artifacts per cubic foot
of dirt removed. Compared to other California mounds, this figure is
exceptionally high. Only in the Sacramento Valley among Late Horizon sites
where baked clay objects were manufactured as a substitute for stone do
figures run correspondingly as high, and even here one has to consider a
single class of artifacts rather than a full range as expressed in the
Tank Site. One explanation for the great increase for this season is that
most of our excavations were conducted in the shallow part of the site (0
to 8 inches) where the bulk of the artifacts occurred.
REVIEW OF EARLIER WORK AT THE TANK SITE
Concerted excavation at the Tank Site was first carried on from June 19 to
August 5, 1947. The immediate aim was to explore as fully as time
permitted the nature and extent of the deposit. In the main, interest
revolved on cutting long trenches, test pitting, and expanding in
favorable areas. The compact nature of the soil and the heavy artifact
yield retarded clearing. Nevertheless, some 5,000 cubic feet of mound
earth was removed which bore an artifact content of one finished implement
to every 1.5 cubic feet.
Within the limitations imposed by archaeological conditions, the
excavation made possible certain inferences regarding the over-all pattern
and associated complexes derived from an open site typified by crude
percussion-flaked core tools and basic milling implements. The chipped
stone has been compared to that described for the San Dieguito and Lake
Mohave cultures. It includes a somewhat ill-defined variety of scraper
planes, scrapers, choppers, projectile points, and large blades. Our
Topanga series of scrapers and planes was numerically large enough and
exemplified a sufficient degree of internal variation to warrant a
breakdown into descriptive categories or types. Ground- and pecked-stone
pieces consisted mainly of manos and metates. Here too, quantity and
diversity allowed a reduction to types. The cultural validity and
developmental implications of the typology presented are limited although
some such considerations were discussed. Specimens represented only
sparingly, as was true with a number of forms of flaked tools, and
especially mortars, pestles, cogged stones, disks, and ornaments, have
been described individually. For additional details and for information
not included here the reader is referred to the earlier published report
(Treganza and Malamud, 1950).
On the basis of eight burials, all in poor condition, two modes of
interment were recognized: primary inhumation and reburial. Difficult to
characterize concisely are the various manifestations defined as
_features_. They include unusual aggregates of stone and/or implements,
hearths, or any circumstance that appeared atypical of the relatively
homogeneous midden deposit as it was understood in 1947.
A physical analysis of the mound mass and its contents indicates a
considerable degree of antiquity for the occupation represented. The
midden material is extremely compact, and there is a suggested development
of a soil profile. With the exception of fragmentary, occasional bits of
shell, charcoal, bone, and a trace of ashaltum, all organic substances
have long since disappeared from the site. What little mammal bone
remained was almost inevitably in a poor state of preservation, generally
fragmentary, and considerably decomposed. Marine shell, crushed and
friable, was encountered in occasional pockets in the lower limits of the
deposit and under inverted metates. This shell probably represents
evidence of the occasional use of shellfish as a dietary item. No shell
artifacts were found below 6 inches and all shell refuse was found below
48 inches. The few artifacts as were found in the upper levels were only
in a fair state of preservation and can probably be assigned to Phase II
occupation.
As our primary interest was in the Tank Site, and our time limited,
archaeological reconnaissance in the vicinity was necessarily curtailed.
Four lesser sites yielding core tools, and manos were noted along the
small tributary system on which the Tank Site is located. One of these,
LAn-2, was test-pitted. An additional site, LAn-6, typified by
"Topanga-like" artifacts, was recorded on the western periphery of the San
Fernando Valley just over the divide from Topanga Canyon.
LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION OF SITES
The prefix and numbers used in this paper to designate archaeological
deposits will follow the system now being used by the University of
California Archaeological Survey. All data on sites are filed in the
central office of the Survey, Department of Anthropology, University of
California, Berkeley. In this paper, LAn stands for Los Angeles County.
_LAn-1 (Tank Site)._--Our type locality, the Tank Site, occupies a
well-drained knoll high up on the eastern side of Topanga Canyon
(elevation 1,214 feet) some 4 miles inland from the Pacific Coast. The
tract of land upon which the site lies is known locally as the "92 acres"
(See Treganza and Malamud, 1950; and maps 1 and 2).
_LAn-2 (map 3)._--This site lies on the "92 acres," about 350 yards
west-southwest of the Tank Site, on the same ridge but at a lower
elevation. At this point the ridge narrows almost to a hogback about 75
feet wide, terminating in a small knoll. There were signs of occupation
for a distance of 300 feet along the ridge. The exact limits could not be
determined since the vegetation had been bulldozed off earlier and the
deposit had been dragged. Excavation at this site established the basis of
Topanga Culture Phase 11.
_LAn-3._--This site is located on the Trippet Ranch just within the city
limits of Los Angeles. It occupies the same ridge as the Tank Site but
lies at a higher elevation and some 450 yards to the east. The western
edge of the site and the nearby canyon are covered with live oaks, sage,
and manzanita. Most of the surface has been disturbed, for the land was
formerly planted to grain. The limits of habitation are marked by compact
light-brown soil, which discolors slightly the yellow surrounding earth.
There is no perceptible rise in contour. Artifacts typical of the Tank
Site were observed weathered out of the occupation surface. The former
living area was estimated about a hundred square yards. The deposit
appeared only a few inches deep; however, this was probably a village
site, though occupied only for a short time. An abundance of tarweed,
restricted to the deposit area, might well be considered a vegetation
association.
_LAn-4._--This site is located in the saddle of the ridge which separates
the Topanga Canyon drainage from that of the Santa Ynez Canyon, about
one-half mile east-southeast of the Tank Site. The saddle is well covered
with live oaks and manzanita. The habitation deposit is marked by a slight
discoloration of the soil and yielded a few manos like those of the Tank
Site. At best, the site was probably just a temporary camping spot.
_LAn-5._--As at LAn-4, the evidence of occupation, consisting of typical
manos, was found in a small saddle of a ridge directly across the ravine
from, and about one-half mile south of the Tank Site. Large live oaks
are the predominant vegetation. No extensive habitation area was noted,
though the evidence might well have been hidden under leaf mould.
[Illustration: Topanga Canyon]
_LAn-6._--This site is of interest since it may indicate an occurrence of
the Topanga Culture in the San Fernando Valley. The deposit is located on
the periphery of a citrus grove in the eastern foothills of the valley,
near Girard. Cultural associations consisted of Topanga-like scrapers and
choppers composed of a tough, light-colored rhyolite. There were no signs
of occupation. It is not improbable that this was a quarry site; an
outcrop of rhyolite is close at hand. However, no quantities of reject
refuse were noted; nor did any core or flake tools composed of rhyolite
occur in the Tank Site series to suggest trade or contact between the two
sites.
The two San Fernando Valley sites, the Big Tahunga and Porter Ranch sites,
reported on by Mr. Edwin Walker (Walker, 1936, 1945) of the Southwest
Museum, appear to have no relation to LAn-6 or bearing on the problem of
the Topanga Culture.
_LAn-8._--Topanga Post Office and a number of smaller buildings now stand
directly on this site, though parts of it are still evident where it
extends south to the highway. Except in the dry summer, water is available
in the creek just across the road and there are two springs less than half
a mile to the west.
The low mound has been badly cut through by latterday road and building
operations, thus an area of only about 200 square feet remains uncovered.
Even here the surface has been considerably disturbed, but, at the same
time, a large number of artifacts have been exposed and are to be found
scattered over the dark, friable midden soil, interspersed with rejects
and shell fragments. The artifacts noted consist of general core tools and
a possible mano fragment. One shell disk bead (diameter, 3 mm.; thickness,
1 mm.; diameter of perforation, 1 mm.; unidentifiable shell) was
collected.
_LAn-9._--Located on a small rocky knoll, formed by a spur descending from
the range on the west side of the canyon, the site is .5 (unless
specified, all mileages noted are in air miles) of a mile northwest of
LAn-8 and .3 of a mile due south of the ranch house of R. Kiewit. Water is
available at a spring, .25 of a mile northwest, rising from the bed of an
intermittent creek that drains into Topanga Creek.
In appearance the site is very different from LAn-8. The mound soil has
been consolidated to a near-clay, so that it varies only from the
surrounding clayey soil in being somewhat darker. It extends over an area
of 100 square feet, but few artifacts are evident on the surface. Those
collected consist of 8 single-edged scraper planes and 1 bifacial chopper.
Of the planes, 2 were additionally utilized as choppers on the edge
opposite that which had been worked. All artifacts were basalt with the
exception of 2 quartzite planes. Patination was evident on all the basalt
specimens, though not as heavy as on similar implements from a number of
the other sites.
_LAn-10._--This site is situated on the adjoining ridge, only .13 of a
mile northwest of LAn-9 and is correspondingly closer to the spring, which
from here is due north. Both in physiographic location and appearance the
two sites are very similar.
The area covered by mound soil stretches along the ridge some 250 feet and
is 70 feet wide. But the soil is compact and consolidated and only
slightly dark. A portion of the site area has been somewhat disturbed by
the construction of a milk house, stockyard, and fences. Artifacts picked
up from the surface consist of manos, choppers, scraper planes, and
hammerstones. Of the manos, 5 are bifacial--3 with parallel wear surfaces,
2 wedge-shaped in cross section--and of these, 2 are trifacial, with the
two sides that form the keeled back meeting at right angles. In cross
section, all the used areas are only slightly convex. Most show
considerable wear and good shoulder development, display pecking on their
grinding surfaces, and all but 2 granitic specimens are of sandstone. A
single monofacial chopper of basalt is well battered along its edge. Out
of 7 single-edged planes, 2 have been secondarily worked and used as
choppers on an edge other than that developed on the periphery of the
plane, and 6 are basalt and 1 is quartzite. One small, flat scraper has
two localized adjacent concavities struck from its margin and is also of
basalt. Of the 3 core hammerstones, 2 are basalt and 1 is quartzite.
Considerable chemical alteration is obvious on even the flaked surfaces.
_LAn-11._--Located in the vineyard of the Kiewit Ranch, this site is less
than .2 of a mile west of north from LAn-10. The spring already mentioned
is immediately to the east, and another, on the property of S. Barton, is
.3 of a mile north-northeast.
This site has much in common with LAn-9 and LAn-10. The sloping knoll on
which the site is situated is part of the ridge that forms the north bank
of the intermittent creek. The leeched, indurated soil is hardly
recognizable as occupational deposit, but the fact that it forms a site is
obvious from its slightly darker coloring and the scattered surface
artifacts and reject material. These are thinly strewn over an area of 200
feet by 100 feet, and are found to a depth of 2 feet in the bank resulting
from a road cut at the base of the site.
The 10 single-edged planes that come from the surface range from large to
small, 9 of which are basalt and 1 a pink mudstone. A single massive
double-ended plane of basalt is much battered on its worked edges, which
are flaked back on their upper side. Battering is also in evidence along
the flaked edge of 4 bifacial choppers, 3 of which are basalt and 1
quartzite. Out of 4 basalt flake scrapers, one has been much used; and of
4 core hammerstones, 2 are basalt, 1 is quartzite, and 1 is mudstone.
Manos were represented by 3 bifacial types, the grinding surfaces of 2
being parallel, and 1 meeting at an angle to effect a wedge-shaped cross
section. All are well-shouldered, 1 displaying a pecked depression on a
single wear surface; 2 are of sandstone, 1 of which is carbonized; and the
third is of an igneous rock. Again, on all the basalt specimens the
patination is very marked.
_LAn-12._--The largest site yet found in the canyon is on the property of
Mr. Miller on the road to the Trippet Ranch, .25 of a mile southeast of
the Tank Site across an intermittent creek. It was noted that in the creek
bed, just downstream from the Miller residence, pools of water, which,
according to Mr. Trujillo were spring fed, an exceptionally dry summer
season.
The site extends from the ridge where the house is located into the knoll
west of the orchard, covering an area of 400 by 300 feet to a depth of at
least 30 inches. Artifacts are plentiful on the ploughed and cultivated
surface, and the highly indurated mound soil is dark and clayey. Where the
deposit has been cut by recent developments, little worked stone is found
in the banks; and a 5-foot square pit netted only one fragment of a ground
slate pendant, though the deposit extended below the 30 inches to which
the excavation proceeded. From the walls of the pit it could be noted that
some soil profile had already developed.
Tools from the surface included general core tools, manos, and metates. A
basin metate had been reported; and a fragment of one, of sandstone and
shaped on its outer surface, was found. Of 9 manos and mano fragments, 5
are bifacial and relatively thin and 4, monofacial. All but 2 of the
monofacial artifacts are sandstone, these being of a granitic rock. In
cross section the majority of grinding surfaces are unusually convex,
especially as they reach the edge and roll partly up the side. A single
basalt pestle fragment was obtained. Scraper planes are well represented
by 10 with a U-shaped edge development, some well-battered along the
worked margin; and 25 single-edged planes, some of which are very large
and most displaying flaking back on their edges, generally on the upper
surface of the used edge. Four of quartzite and 1 of felsite porphyry are
single-edged, the remainder are basalt. The 4 side scrapers are thin
flakes, 2 of basalt, 2 of chert. The 3 choppers are of basalt, 1 having
served additional use as a hammerstone, and the 4 hammerstones are basalt
cores. Patination is noticeable on all, and smoothed flake scars are not
uncommon.
_LAn-13._--Six bedrock mortars were found here in a sandstone outcrop of
the south bank of the creek, 200 feet upstream from the Kiewit Ranch. As
the area is covered by a relatively dense oak grove, the fact that no
artifacts were found on the surface in the vicinity may be due in part to
the thick fall of dead leaves. However, the soil here beneath the leaf
mold is no different from that of the region as a whole, being of a
light-colored clayey consistency.
_LAn-14._--Three-tenths of a mile northeast of Mineral Springs is a basalt
quarry and possible habitation site. The spring water is potable and
affords the nearest available water source. Over an area of 100 by 75
feet, surrounding the basalt outcrop, the sandy soil is somewhat darker.
Whether this is owing to the decomposition of organic refuse strewn about
a habitation site or merely to rock weathering, or in part to both, was
indeterminable. The only evidence of former activity are several
percussion bulbs and a number of specimens displaying a small amount of
regular chipping, which suggest crude scrapers. All of these pieces,
moreover, have undergone considerable patination so that they are now
quite yellowed even on their flaked surfaces. In general appearance and
degree of patination the artifacts from this site show marked resemblance
to those from San Fernando, LAn-6, just over the divide.
Four-tenths of a mile to the south, .2 of a mile southwest of the home of
M. Biencourt, an isolated chopper was picked from the surface of a spur
ridge leading to Garrapata Creek. It is a large bifacial tool, battered on
the slightly fashioned working edge, of basalt and patinated. No further
indication of aboriginal habitation could be discovered in the near
vicinity. Lithic tools and rejects, however, were found on the slope just
southeast of the Biencourt residence, apparently weathering from a higher
source. Investigation at the time was not feasible, however, and further
investigation has not as yet been possible.
_LAn-16._--Now almost completely destroyed or disturbed by bulldozing and
animals, this site is centered in the chicken run of the W. R. Hamilton
Ranch, some 3 miles up the Fernwood-Pacific Road, 1.7 air miles southwest
of Topanga Post Office. It sits on a somewhat more level shelf of an
otherwise steep slope, the east bank of a ravine from which a permanent
spring emanates 12 miles from the site. Over an area 60 feet in diameter,
dark friable mound soil is still in evidence, though artifacts are now
scarce. Three deep bedrock mortars, and some seven smaller, have been
worn into a sandstone outcrop toward the upper end of the site, and a
single pestle, and scraper plane of quartzite, came from the surface.
_LAn-17._--LAn-17 surrounds the spring on the Barton School property to an
indeterminable extent. Recent building and cultivation have obliterated or
disturbed considerable portions of the old habitation site; however, from
what remains, it appears very similar to LAn-8, .3 of a mile southeast.
Artifacts lie on the surface of the dark, friable midden deposit, which
contrasts with the surrounding light clayey soil, though the discoloration
may have been intensified to some extent by seepage and decay of organic
matter derived from the heavy oak grove. The artifacts noted consist of a
shallow basin metate, manos, only a few general core tools, and a bedrock
mortar in a boulder, some 300 feet from the spring.
_LA-21 and LAn-21._--Located on a level shelf adjacent to the west bank of
Garapata Creek, the site is .72 of a mile east-northeast of Mineral
Springs. The upper half is separated from the lower by a 4-foot sandstone
face that divides the site midway between the bank and its upper
extremity. In all, an area of 50 feet by 75 feet is covered with dark,
friable, sandy midden deposit to an undetermined depth, which contrasts
with the surrounding light, brown-colored sand. Surface finds included
only some scrapers, and a quartz core hammerstone, along with a few cores
and more concentrated chert flakes; by far in the majority were
head-fractured, carbonized rock fragments. A shallow 10-foot test trench
again yielded only fired, fractured rock.
A number of springs are located in this vicinity, all, at present,
permanent and potable. Two are within a quarter of a mile, one upstream
and one downstream. Two others are within a three-quarter mile radius, one
upstream on the old Santa Maria Ranch, and the other at Mineral Springs,
to the west across a low range.
_LAn-23._--This site is on the east side of Garrapata Creek located in a
small cave near the top of a large sandstone outcrop. The habitation
deposit consists of loose, ashy dark soil charged with clam and abalone
shells, and mammal and bird bones. Artifacts recovered were typical of the
late protohistoric period. This site was partly examined by R. F. Heizer
in 1946 and called by him "Cave 1" (Heizer and Lemert, 1947, p. 238).
_LAn-24._--This site is in the open adjacent to LAn-23. It consists of a
refuse deposit some 75 square yards in area. Surface and subsurface
artifacts resemble those of Topanga Phase II. This was Heizer's "Upper
Site" (Heizer and Lemert, 1947, p. 238).
_LAn-25._--A cave site, LAn-25 is .4 of a mile east of LAn-23 in the same
sandstone ridge. It has a northwest exposure and is very near the top of
the outcrop. A small opening leads into a circular room 15 feet in
diameter; the walls and ceiling are somewhat smoke-blackened. However, the
cave probably bore little habitation, for the floor deposit is hardly
discolored and includes very little charcoal, only two flakes and no
artifacts. Water is available at the Santa Maria spring a half a mile
north, but the ascent to the cave is difficult because of the thick brush
and sheer rock faces.
_LAn-27._--This is one of a series of caves reported by W. King and D.
Lathrop. They stretch along the north bank of Garrapata Creek for .25 of a
mile on the property of M. Biencourt, just south of the owner's house, all
with a more or less southerly exposure. Water is available from the spring
in the creek bed a few hundred feet upstream and from Mineral Springs,
less than a half a mile to the west. As none contain deposit of any depth,
and the majority are relatively low overhangs, these caves probably
served only as temporary shelters.
_LAn-27._--This is a high-roofed cave, 25 feet wide and 12 feet deep, with
a maximum floor deposit of 12 inches. The slope in the front of the cave
also bears dark, loose deposit, which appears to have a greater depth than
that in the cave itself. Surface finds include a few scrapers, as well as
some flakes and marine shell fragments.
_LAn-28._--100 feet west of LAn-27, and slightly higher, is another cave,
only 8 by 5 feet. The rock floor bears no artifacts, the only evidence of
possible habitation being the intensely fire-blackened roof. As extensive
brush fires are not uncommon in this region the blackening may well be the
result of unintentional firing.
_LAn-29._--This is the largest of the caves, 60 by 16 feet, and is 400
feet southwest of LAn-27 and somewhat lower. A thin erosional or aelian
layer covers the surface of the deposit, which bears scrapers, marine
shell fragments, and burnt bone; the interior of the cave is completely
carbonized.
_LAn-30._--Only 30 feet southwest of LAn-29 is another small cave, 20 by
10 feet, with fire-blackened walls and shallow deposit containing
scrapers, marine shell, and flakes.
_LAn-31._--This is a low circular cave with two entrances, some 80 feet
southwest of LAn-30. The dark ashy deposit covers a floor 10 by 15 feet
where pockets attain a maximum depth of 24 inches, and extends some 20
feet beyond the cave mouth. Aside from marine shell and flakes, it
contained a few cores and scrapers.
_LAn-32._--The last of the caves is 200 feet west of LAn-31 and slightly
lower. Here a long shallow overhang leads to a dry circular room with
blackened walls. The deposit covers an area 15 feet in diameter, is dark,
ashy, and dry, and yielded a few scrapers, some cores, and a quantity of
marine shell fragments.
_LAn-33._--In a sandstone cliff overlooking the valley, 3 potholes have
been used as bedrock mortars. They are .25 of a mile west-southwest of the
spring on the Barton School property, and the same distance west-northwest
of the spring on the Kiewit Ranch, surrounded on the west by oaks. Again,
neither surface artifacts nor other habitation deposits are evident in the
immediate vicinity.
SUMMARY OF SITES
On the basis of physiographic location, nature of deposit, artifact types,
and the degree of implement patination, sites LAn-2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11,
12, 14, and 24 resemble the Tank Site and, therefore, could probably be
classed as representative of one of the phase developments of the Topanga
Culture. Sites LAn-8, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32, because
of the friable, dark soil, presence of steatite, quantities of mammal bone
and mollusk shell, or associated bedrock mortars, have been classed as
late protohistoric sites and are not considered within the scope of this
paper. Several sites, e.g., LAn-17, were of dubious mixed origin and would
require more extensive examination to determine their cultural affinities.
Where omissions in the numbering occur, e.g., 7, it is because sites were
reported for an area and later failed to materialize as much.
FIELD TECHNIQUES
Our major purpose in continuing field work at the Tank Site was to
establish with greater certainty the relationships between the diverse
artifact types and classes, and other manifestations, already recognized.
In the hope that the general region in which burials had been located in
1947 would continue to be productive in this respect, we expanded from
there in all directions, especially toward the center of the mound.
Digging in the deeper northwestern part of the site was furthered with the
intent of verifying the suggested stratigraphy and acquiring, possibly, a
deep undisturbed burial in better condition than those from the upper soil
horizons.
The procedure of excavation and notation was essentially unaltered from
that previously employed. A grid of coördinates had already been
established with reference to permanent data. Burials and features were
again entered on standard University of California archaeological forms. A
slight change, however, was made in the method of recording and
cataloguing field data.
Originally a data sheet had been completed for each 6-inch interval of a
5-foot grid section, on which artifacts were plotted in exact horizontal
location. In working up the material it became clear that the specific
spatial distribution of isolated implements lacked patterning. It was
therefore considered adequate, when returning to the field, to designate
provenience by excavation unit and level only. In addition, the method of
cataloguing was simplified and so organized that 90 per cent of the
tabulation of data could be completed in the field. This was possible
because the specimens derived from the 1947 field work had already been
classified and constituted a sample on which expectations could
reasonably be based.
The procedure followed was to strip each 5-foot section in 6-inch levels,
and to sack together all the artifacts from one such test unit. At the end
of the day the level bags were taken to camp where the artifacts were
washed, labeled, and tabulated. All items were marked in India ink
according to section number and level interval, e.g., 15R10-1, a specimen
from the 0- to 6-inch level of the pit; 15R10-2 would indicate the 6- to
12-inch level, etc. A tabulation sheet was kept for each excavation unit.
This sheet listed the most frequently occuring types or categories,
allowing for the notation of rare forms, and was ruled vertically to
indicate depth intervals. Artifacts were entered according to type, or
category, and level, and then packed for transport. Atypical specimens or
those to be used for illustration were set aside for separate shipment and
more intensive examination.
This system had many advantages. Records were readily kept up to date,
problems that suggested themselves as excavation progressed could be more
closely defined and investigated, and artifacts could be expeditiously and
finally cleared from the work area. The data sheets served as a field
catalogue and covered the groundwork of the final statistical compilation.
The number assigned each specimen referred not only to its catalogue entry
but also its provenience.
In 1947 we could not anticipate what might be found, nor could we
establish immediately the significance of what we did encounter. Thus it
has been our policy to save all worked stone and ship it back to the
Museum of Anthropology at Berkeley for study. During the second season,
however, we felt a little more discrimination was warranted in order to
save the museum valuable storage space. Therefore, the bulk of the
hammerstones and a number of complete, and all fragmentary, manos,
metates, and scrapers were tabulated and piled into pit 21R4 before
backfilling.
[Illustration: Map 2. Tank Site LAn-1]
FEATURES
Since the Tank Site showed promise of being an unusual and important
deposit, considerable care was observed during both seasons of excavation
to isolate and expose any concentration of lithic remains which appeared
to be in any way atypical of the average mound matrix. As a result,
numerous associations of stones, such as mano caches, highly weathered
inverted metates, and massive piles of rejected cores, broken manos and
metates, and plain cobbles, were set apart from the rest of the site and
given the term "feature." In some instances these features possess obvious
meaning, as was true of the mano caches and the inverted metates, but in
other instances the purpose remains unknown. If nothing else, this
technique of isolating features as excavation progressed provided an
adequate view of the internal structure of a village, a type of
information largely lacking in southern California archaeology.
The features described below represent a continuation of the series
reported for 1947.
_Feature 14 (pl. 19, b)._--Cache of 4 manos. The placement of these
specimens precludes a chance affinity; they were closely grouped and each
was standing more or less on end. No other artifacts were found in
association.
_Feature 15 (pl. 19, d)._--Owing to its areal extent, feature 15 is
somewhat difficult to define. The complex of stone by which it is
characterized has been arbitrarily broken down for descriptive
convenience. There is no way of knowing whether the entire complex
exemplifies a single unit or if in the course of time it merely developed
from a single point of departure.
_Feature 15a._--This was 10 by 10 feet with an average depth of 4 to 8
inches. Four inverted metates, additional metate fragments, manos, core
tools, and a single fragment of a slate pendant. In the southeast portion
were 12 symmetrical stream cobbles of different sizes. This latter
aggregation is of interest. The almost perfect symmetry of the stones
suggests selection, and the physiographic location of the Tank Site
implies such stones must have been transported to it. None shows any
evidence of utilitarian use, and in the light of present knowledge the
existence and function of such objects cannot be explained.
_Feature 15b._--Badly weathered, fragmentary metates; altered "lumps" of
sandstone; manos; and core tools. Three small pestles were found near
association.
_Feature 15c._--Inverted, killed, sandstone metate; sandstone slab; and
core tools. Burial 11 was in close proximity, but owing to its badly
disturbed condition, no positive association could be made with the
feature.
_Feature 15d._--Metates; altered sandstone blocks; core tools; manos; and
fragments of human leg bones.
_Feature 16._--Disintegrated, pitted metate and fragments of 2 other
metates; mano fragments; core tools; unworked stone; and unidentifiable
fragments of human bone.
_Feature 17._--Characterized by a number of symmetrically water-worn
cobbles. Contrasts with other features wherein metates, manos, cores, and
irregular, unutilized stones predominate. Fragmentary metates, manos, and
core tools were also present, as were 2 segments of human femora.
_Feature 18._--Badly weathered, inverted, deep-basin metate in near
association to symmetrical sandstone cobble containing a ground
depression. The latter may represent the initial stage of mortar
manufacture, though the smoothness and regularity of the depression
surface somewhat invalidates the idea.
_Feature 19._--Metates (deep basin, shallow basin, and slab); mano
fragments; scraper planes; core hammerstones; and fragments of human
femora and tibiae. The deep-basin metate was right side up, in contrast to
the usual inversion.
_Feature 20._--Deep-basin metate with associated metate fragments;
carbon-smudged blocks of disintegrated sandstone core tools; and sections
of human femora.
_Feature 21 (pl. 18, b)._--Large, shallow-basin metate and fragments of 2
others; 2 large, reworked, granite boulders; 3 blocks of highly decomposed
sandstone; core tools; mano; and fragments of human femur.
_Feature 22 (pl. 20, b)._--Deep-basin metate; 2 slab metates and 3 metate
fragments; chunks of altered sandstone; core tools; and a large, chert
blade.