Troubled Resting Place : Ventura Officials Weigh Costly Options for Preserving Remains of Chumash Indians

As the rainy season approaches, a race to protect a large Indian burial ground found earlier this month in a Ventura County flood-control channel has begun. The graves were found by a team of researchers from California State University, Northridge.

The skeletal remains of at least 16 Chumash Indians dating back to the 5th Century have been unearthed, leading to the possibility that the remains could be washed out to sea once seasonal rains begin flowing through the channel. Test digging in other areas of the channel indicates that there could be hundreds, or even thousands, of other graves.

“A lot of people are going to have to make a lot of decisions, and soon,” said CSUN archeologist Mark Raab, leader of the dig near Mugu Lagoon that was stopped when the remains were found.

From an archeological point of view, Raab said, the cemetery is a historical gold mine, an opportunity for CSUN researchers to study an ancient civilization by analyzing its mortuary practices. For example, the Indians were found buried face down in a tucked position, apparently to save space.

But archeologists are opposed by Chumash Indians, who are trying to protect the remains of their ancestors in what is now considered the largest ancient Indian cemetery in the area.

Costly Options to Preserve Site

Trying to remain both sensitive to Indian tradition and practical about the repair of the flood channel, officials from Ventura County and the Army Corps of Engineers said they do not know quite what to do. By all accounts, it will be costly to save the site--possibly several million dollars--but just who will pay has not been decided.

Indian group leaders said they will go before the Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to ask officials to follow Indian tradition by finding a way to preserve the burial site without moving the skeletons.

With winter rains typically falling in Southern California between November and March, officials acknowledge that they will have to move quickly.

“The standoff has been created,” said Bill Haydon, a senior engineer for the Ventura County Flood Control District. “The ball is in the Indians’ court. We have to know exactly how they stand on this.”

Jessie Roybal, executive director of the Candalaria American Indian Council, which represents various Indian groups, said she will ask officials from the county and the Corps of Engineers to consider three courses of action to preserve the cemetery:

Capping about an acre in the middle of the channel with a thick layer of cement to cover the graves, protect the remains and allow the water to flow unimpeded.

Building an underground cement wall around the graves and then covering them with cement.

Rerouting the channel, which is fed by Calleguas Creek, around the cemetery.

“The problem is that all of those steps would be extremely costly,” Roybal said. “It is very important that our heritage be preserved. I only hope our concerns fall on sympathetic ears.”

Roybal said the remains could be dug up and hauled to a site that has been provided to the Indians by the county. Once there, the skeletons could be reburied.

But Chumash descendant Richard Agulano of Thousand Oaks said moving the bones would enrage many Indians because it would violate what they consider to be sacred.

“When you disturb our ancestors, you are disturbing us,” said Agulano, 47. “When you remove an Indian from burial, he is no longer in peace. They must not be taken out and played with like toys.”

Pat Martz, senior archeologist for the Corps of Engineers in Los Angeles, said her office has been notified of the Indians’ desires and will study the alternatives that they presented. She said the most likely candidates to pay for any project would be the county, the Corps of Engineers or the federal or state government.

“We’re going to try to expedite this, but it can’t be done overnight,” Martz said. “The first thing we have to do is define the boundaries of the cemetery. The Chumash tended to bury their people in a very small space, which means there could be many, many remains. . . . What we don’t need is a high-velocity storm.”

The Chumash, one of the largest tribes in California, typically lived along the coast from San Luis Obispo south to Los Angeles. A peaceful tribe, the Chumash were largely known for their sophisticated fishing skills.

The area around Point Mugu is considered to have been a regional capital for the tribe between about AD 300 and the early 1800s, CSUN archeologist Raab said.

Chumash Artifacts Often Stolen

There were three villages in the immediate area, and for years erosion caused many Chumash artifacts to be exposed. Bones, pottery and beads are frequently stolen, and many of them later turn up at swap meets and garage sales or as decorations in homes, Indian officials and archeologists said.

Chumash graves have often been found by archeologists, but infrequently in cemeteries and rarely with the bones preserved as well as the ones found by CSUN, said Chester King, a leading expert in Chumash studies who is regularly called in by the state and federal governments to examine Chumash digs.

Judging from the number and quality of relics found with the bones, Raab said, the skeletons are those of “the wealthy and those high up on the social ladder in the tribe.”

The CSUN dig began July 23 as a routine excavation required by federal law because of the area’s listing on the National Registry of Historic Places, a designation made because of the earlier finds of Chumash Indian relics. The $50,000 dig was commissioned by Ventura County because the flood-control channel, which the county wants to dredge, had become clogged with silt and other debris that reduced the amount of water it could carry, engineer Haydon said.

The original agreement between the Corps of Engineers, the county and Indian groups contained a burial policy stating that if any human remains were found, they would be unearthed and reburied elsewhere. But the policy did not cover cemeteries, as opposed to individual skeletons. Cemeteries are defined as a place where the remains of six or more bodies are found.

“With the enormity of what’s been found, there’s going to have to be a renegotiation of that policy,” corps archeologist Martz said.

Annette Ospital, a spokeswoman for the state’s Native American Heritage Commission, said California’s laws are vague in dealing with the discovery of Indian cemeteries. Usually, she said, deals are worked out on a case-by-case basis, with the commission serving as a mediator.

Bones Not Removed

While attempts have begun to protect the cemetery, known only by its state classification as CA VEN-110, Raab has started covering the graves with loose dirt to prevent damage and theft. CSUN researchers have taken many bags of dirt and artifacts back to their campus headquarters, where they have been studying the articles using screen filters. No human remains have been removed from the burial site, preventing archeologists from examining the most important aspects of the find.

“The single most revealing glimpse into the structure of prehistoric societies is through mortuary practices,” Chumash expert King said. “They are just like time capsules, invaluable for research. It would be a tragedy if this situation is not addressed as soon as possible.”