Indian Skull Unearthed at O.C. Construction Site

The skull of a Native American has been unearthed by construction workers at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano, halting a chapel expansion project as archeologists sift the dirt for artifacts.

The partial skull was discovered Friday afternoon and taken to the coroner’s office for analysis, officials said Tuesday.

A forensic anthropologist confirmed the remains were Native American and not recently buried, said Orange County coroner spokesman Jim Amormino.

The skull’s age remains unknown, said Sonia Johnston, who chairs the group of Juaneno Band of Mission Indians that will get custody of the bones.

She said the skull would be reburied at an undisclosed location.

The land beneath St. Margaret’s is not a known burial ground, Johnston said, but archeologists are now painstakingly excavating the site under supervision by the Juaneno tribe.

The team uncovered some artifacts Tuesday, although details were unavailable.

It’s possible the site was a Native American campground, said Johnston, who visited the school this week with four other tribe members.

Any disturbance of ancestral graves is upsetting to Native Americans, she said. Although outsiders might view bone discoveries with detachment, “we feel as if they are [exhuming] our grandparents,” Johnston said. “It’s very emotional.”

David Bush, St. Margaret’s director of finance and operations, said school officials were “very sorry” to have inadvertently unearthed the grave.