Archeology in Angeles Forest: Hold Your Fire!

Texas Canyon is an unlikely place to discover something worthy of inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

The canyon, tucked deep in the heart of Angeles National Forest about 11 miles northeast of Saugus, for years resembled a war zone. Thousands of gun enthusiasts had sprayed the hillsides, cottonwoods and desert plants with bullets and had illegally hauled in rusting cars, refrigerators and buckets of paint to use as targets.

Only when forest rangers closed the area to shooters last year did the forest’s two archeologists feel safe enough to approach the canyon, which was littered with a carpet of spent shells and shotgun casings.

But there was a payoff when they finally got a good look at the area--they discovered ancient rock art painted by Indians about 3,000 years ago.

“How this managed to be saved is a wonder among wonders,” said Rick Wessel, the forest’s assistant archeologist, standing under a canopy of 20-million-year-old boulders where the faded red drawings were found.

It is one of 22 sites the forest’s antiquity detectives have uncovered in the last four years that the state deemed eligible for acceptance into the National Register of Historic Places--the first and most critical step in the process. Decorated rocks used for Indian rites and the remnants of Indian mortuaries, earth ovens, sweat lodges and tribal ceremonies also have been exhaustively documented.

In addition, the archeologists have opened a window on what life was like in the parched mountains in the early 20th Century by documenting Depression mining activities and the feuding between forest rangers and those who had gold fever.

The money for all the work has come from an unlikely source. State off-highway vehicle fees have paid for the survey of 2,000 acres. The project, which could cost up to $100,000 by the time it is completed, has kept the two archeologists and many summer interns busy for four years.

The unusual alliance has not always gone smoothly. The archeology work caused a two-year delay in creation of formal off-road vehicle paths in the Rowher Flats portion of the forest’s Saugus district.

Routes Redrawn

Archeologists have attempted to ensure that none of the proposed trails in Rowher Flats will destroy prehistoric or historic sites. Some routes have been redrawn after the archeological team found that they crossed historically significant land.

“You can’t move archeological sites; you can close . . . (off-road vehicle) sites,” said Mike McIntyre, the forest’s archeologist.

Cam Lockwood, the forest’s off-road vehicle program coordinator, said he can understand the frustrations of the sport’s enthusiasts.

“The archeologists are constantly finding more and more; every time they go to a new site they find something new,” Lockwood said.

What the archeologists are doing could be compared to police lifting fingerprints from a crime scene.

There are no prehistoric structures standing in the forest, nor any foundations remaining. Many of the artifacts, now stored at UCLA, are rocks shaped into hammer stones or grinding tools. They also have collected beads and arrowheads, some dating back 3,000 years. And they have squirreled away for analysis hundreds of small bags of dirt that contains tiny particles of food waste and plant materials.

Samplings Collected

“When you look at these sites, it doesn’t look like much is out there,” McIntyre said.

It is not the archeologists’ intent, however, to collect a museum full of impressive relics. They typically excavate only tiny sections of a site to get a sampling of what might be hiding below. What they hope to take away is a better understanding of what life was like for the Indians who lived in these rugged hills and canyons.

They discovered that the prehistoric inhabitants, classified as hunters and gatherers, were much more sophisticated than anyone had thought, Wessel said. The archeologists have concluded that the Indians were less concerned about living near food and water. Rather, they seemed to locate their campgrounds on what they considered sacred ground.

The discoveries could have ramifications in other national forests. For instance, when federal archeologists survey timberland before the chain saws are allowed in, they may now consider exploring the hilliest, most remote areas instead of presuming that Indians did not live there.

Many of the prehistoric artifacts belonged to the Tataviam Indians, who maintained an economy based on shells and beads, practiced astronomy and observed a complex social system headed by religious leaders, McIntyre said.

The most unusual possessions the Indians left behind, the experts said, are hundreds of pitted rocks, called “cupules,” found scattered across the mountains. Women who wanted to bear children would tap out shallow holes in the large rocks and pray, the archeologists said. The Indians also would fill the holes in ceremonies meant to bring rain.

Rock Shelter

The archeologists have not been able to save all the artifacts ravaged by man and nature. Last summer, for instance, an excavation team descended upon a large rock shelter that they suspected contained the hidden remains of a prehistoric oven. But carbon testing of the earth showed that the site had been “turned topsy-turvy” by motorbikes, Wessel said.

Dirt bikers and gun lovers are not the only natural predators of archeological artifacts. Scavengers have disturbed grave sites looking for spear points, pottery, abalone pendants, beads and effigies.

Campers and vandals have almost obliterated a second example of rock art in Texas Canyon. Modern scrawling and soot from campfires has extensively damaged the original pale zigzag drawings.