The Archaeological Analysis of Prehistoric Site SCR-12

Primary Investigator/Master’s Project: Gerald Starek, Jr.

Faculty Sponsors: Dr. Marco Meniketti, Dr. Charlotte Sunseri, and Mr. Alan Leventhal

Background: In 1986 the Department of Anthropology at San Jose State University conducted a field school on a portion of prehistoric site CA-SCR-12 located near downtown Santa Cruz.  After completion of the excavation a preliminary review and classification of the archaeological assemblage had been made by SJSU staff.  Furthermore, previous investigations published limited results from adjacent areas of this massive site, however, no attempt at radiocarbon dating the age of this site had ever occurred.  Furthermore, although obsidian was recovered from the 1986 excavation as well as earlier investigations, no attempt by any of the archaeological investigators was made to either source (through XRF) the obsidian flaked stone artifacts or conduct hydration (dating) studies.  Permission has been granted by the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe to pursue radiocarbon dating of the human remains and features recovered from the site and also to conduct obsidian sourcing and hydration studies on the artifacts.  Analysis of the archaeological assemblage recovered from this site has been conducted as part of Leventhal’s Anthropology 195/280 class during the 2012 Fall semester.  These studies will contribute to the writing of a final archaeological report on the CA-SCR-12 excavations as part of Gerald’s thesis.

 

College of Social Sciences Foundation Research Grant: Gerald was awarded $1995.00 for his research and the resulting AMS dates from Beta Analytic were: 3,590± 30 years BP (corrected to 1956 BC on a human femur); 2990 ± 40 BP (556 BC) on a Sea Lion bone and, 2750 ±30 BP (240 BC) on California Mussel shell.

 

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