Searching for treasure

By Katie Dooling

An archaeological field and lab course offered this summer at Santa Clara will excavate land recently purchased by the university. Professors hope to uncover findings of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century builders of Mission Santa Clara.

Campus archaeologist and anthropology professor Russell Skowronek will be leading the excavation course on the edge of campus near Sherman Street.

The class will attempt to uncover evidence from 1785 to 1835 pertaining the lives of the Ohlone Native Americans that inhabited the area. During this time period, the Ohlone people lived and worked on the early Mission of Santa Clara, said Skowronek.

Previous findings, such as shells and ceramic objects, have led Skowronek to believe that more artifacts may be in the area.

Assistant campus archaeologist Linda Hylkema will be doing the lab research for this summer's course. Hylkema said that they are hoping to find the remnants of a structure that Ohlone people built and inhabited.

"We are basically looking for Indian housing; anything else will be a surprise," said Hylkema.

Some of the evidence, Hylkema said, has already turned up on the site in forms of giant rocks used to construct buildings.

Other possible findings on the site that could give insight to the lives of the Ohlone people, Skowronek said, might include shell jewelry, pottery, small stone tools, and food remains in the form of cow bones.

"The Intro to Archaeology students will go to the spot and do low-tech searching. This will locate approximately where the building might be," said Skowronek.

The next step in this process will require technologically advanced machinery to see below the surface without doing any actual digging.

"This is very expensive and requires a lot of training," said Skowronek.

Geometrics, a San Jose-based company, offered its services free of charge to the program. Skowronek said that beginning May 13, Geometrics plans to use a device called a magnetometer to tell if something is beneath the surface.

Skowronek also arranged for forensic dogs to walk over the property. These dogs, usually used to find corpses at crime scenes, will search for remains before any digging begins.

"It could be possible that an old mission cemetery would be there," said Skowronek.

Hylkema, however, said that finding bodies buried in the property is not the intent of this project, nor is it likely that any will be found.

This is not the first excavation on campus at SCU, but it is one of the first strictly designed for research purposes.

Skowronek said that archaeological digs are commonly done on campus for construction sites. Both sites of the current Pat Malley Fitness Center and Orradre Library were explored during construction.

Skowronek said that because this land was only recently purchased by Santa Clara, the university has never scientifically investigated the site.

Hylkema said that although the land is currently undeveloped, Santa Clara might choose to develop it in the near future.

Skowronek said that the summer field course offered this year is unique because previous courses investigated the mission itself, while this course is designed explore the lives of the mission builders.

Only a maximum of 16 students can enroll in the course, a class size smaller than most Santa Clara courses. Still, some students are very excited about the opportunity for a hands-on archaeological experience.

"The nice thing about this is that I can gain experience by helping other students because I have already had experience," said Kerri Kinoshita, a senior anthropology major with an emphasis in archaeology.

Hylkema said that although the course is planned for this summer, the evidence found could take years to be processed. She anticipates, however, that a small exhibit will appear in the Orradre Library in the summer of 2004.

"Given what has been found, we will find something out there," said Skowronek, "and if we don't, we gave it the old college try."