State Says Relics Not Worthy of Display : ‘Lost Village’ Museum Questioned

State officials studying Indian artifacts uncovered last year at the “Lost Village of Encino” now believe the relics are not worth displaying in a museum, an official of the state Department of Parks and Recreation said Wednesday.

John Foster, the department’s senior archeologist, said the preliminary finding of a $50,000 state study is that the Legislature should not appropriate money to preserve the artifacts and build a museum for them in Encino.

“Some are nice artifacts, but we don’t feel they’re of a unique nature,” Foster said of the estimated 2 million items found in October, 1984, during excavation at a construction site along Ventura Boulevard.

An archeological consultant hired by the parks department, Francis A. Riddell, agreed, saying in a supplementary report that it would not be worthwhile for the state to buy the artifacts because “there is no strong evidence that the site, and/or the collections from it, are unique.”

Pet Project

The Lost Village artifacts are a pet project of state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), who originally sought $11 million from the Legislature to buy land and build a museum for the artifacts. But, faced with opposition from the Deukmejian Administration, Robbins scaled back his proposal and finally persuaded the Legislature to approve the $50,000 feasibility study.

Robbins also introduced a bill that would appropriate $975,000 for analysis and preservation of the artifacts. That bill was approved by the Senate in June, but stalled in the Assembly when the Parks and Recreation Department asked that it be given until January to determine the significance of the find and whether the artifacts are suitable for display.

Although the final report will not be made for two months, Foster said, the department believes at this time that state funds “would be better directed at more of the collections the state now has rather than focusing in on this collection.”

Foster made his comments just before a Wednesday night hearing organized by the department to get comment on the artifacts and the feasibility of buying three more acres for an Indian museum.

Land Purchase Considered

The hearing, which attracted a crowd of 68, including archeologists, Indians, elected officials and Encino homeowners, was held at the Encino Community Center, next to Los Encinos State Historic Park, which is across the street from where artifacts were discovered.

Parks officials are considering obtaining three acres, which now are home to a Pic ‘N’ Save store, and a string of small shops at the northeast corner of Ventura and Balboa boulevards, next to the park.

Representatives of city and state lawmakers for the area--including City Councilman Marvin Braude, state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), and Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge)--read statements supporting the proposed museum.

Robbins said, “A local Indian museum would give us a great opportunity to preserve and display them, while allowing Valley schoolchildren the priceless opportunity to learn of our heritage.”

Chief Little Bear, a Fernandino Indian who said his ancestors lived on the site, also supported the museum. “The artifacts belong here in Encino,” he said.

The artifacts are owned by the developer of the Lost Village site, First Financial Group of Encino, which says it paid $1.7 million to unearth the relics.

A group of archeologists has opposed the use of state funds to bail out the developer. They also have maintained that 99% of the 2 million artifacts are waste products, such as small stone flakes produced during the making of arrowheads, and tiny fragments of the bones of animals eaten by Indians.

$400,000 Invested

But Nancy A. Whitney-Desautels, the archeologist credited with discovering the artifacts, has said that 12.5% of them, about 250,000, could be displayed. She said she has invested $400,000 in labor and lab costs on the project.

The controversy over the artifacts began last year with the discovery of the remains of an Indian settlement on the southeast corner of Balboa and Ventura boulevards, at the site of a restaurant that had been razed.