Fire Uncovers O.C. Park’s Native American Artifacts : Excavation: The burning of dense vegetation at Crystal Cove reveals sites archeologists did not know about.

One of the greatest disasters in Orange County history became an unexpected boon to archeologists when it was found recently that the fire that destroyed hundreds of homes also uncovered Native American artifacts in this state park that may be up to 9,000 years old.

The fire burned off dense vegetation that had grown over a handful of cave-like rock shelters and overhangs prehistoric Native Americans had hollowed into hillsides at what is now the inland section of the state park.

At some of the sites, archeologists have found evidence of primitive cutting and grinding tools, ancient cooking fires and drawings on the faces of some rocks.

“The sites are wide open now, and it’s a real opportunity,” said Michael Sampson, an associate state archeologist based in San Diego. “We found some new sites we didn’t know existed and the artifacts are on the surface. We can see how big and how extensive the sites are. We had to guess before. It’s exciting for us because now we can get a close look at a lot of things.”

Sampson called the locations “open-air sites, rock shelters, little caves, with a lot of rock concentrated on the surface.” He said he found “flaked-stone artifacts” such as grinding stones and edged stones that had probably been fashioned as cutting tools. Identifiable remains of what are believed to be cooking pits also were discovered.

The objects and their surrounding habitats are consistent with past finds not only in the Crystal Cove area but also along much of the Southern California coastline, archeologists say. They are continuing to visit the sites to study and catalogue the finds.

No accurate dating of the artifacts has been made, but Sampson said archeological finds unearthed on Irvine Co. land in the Newport Coast area have yielded artifacts that are estimated to be about 9,000 years old.

The park has remained closed to the public since the fire. Officials emphasized that until new vegetation has taken firm root and there is reduced danger of erosion and mudslides, the park would probably remain closed. State parks officials said any attempt to enter the park or disturb the finds would be illegal.

Officials have already cited several trespassers on closed state lands in the Santa Monica mountains where fires uncovered several other Native American archeological sites, Sampson said. Disturbing such finds, he said, is usually a misdemeanor but can be prosecuted as a felony if human remains are involved.

“Hundreds of hours of community service and very substantial fines” are expected to be meted out in the Santa Monica cases, Sampson said.

Eloise Richards Barter, an associate state archeologist who has done extensive work at Crystal Cove, said the people who lived in the caves were probably Native Americans who eventually became known as the Gabrielino and Juaneno, indigenous to Southern California.

They lived in “simple villages, utilizing the plant and animal life in the area. They also would have fished and probably moved seasonally as the resources warranted. They were the forebears of some of the people still living in the area,” Barter said.

They were also, after a fashion, artists. Sampson said that examples of “rock art” have been found at the sites. However, unlike the well-preserved representations of primitive daily life found in places such as the Lascaux caves in France, the drawings at Crystal Cove have been all but obscured by time.

The representations on the rock--not literal pictures of identifiable objects, but rather cryptic designs or symbols--are thought to be “shamanistic,” said Sampson, but “they’re faded and weathered quite a bit and it’s hard to see a lot of it now. Without talking to the person who made them, we’ll never really understand them.”

Although these are not the first archeological finds at Crystal Cove (other state parks have also yielded ancient artifacts and evidence of habitation), park officials and archeologists are still excited by the prospect of an unexpected new source of research.

“It’s important because it’s so easy to get to, and it will give us a much more detailed record,” Sampson said. “Given all the development that’s going on (along coastal lands), the cove represents one of the last open areas on the Orange County coast. This is what’s left. Most of the rest is underneath golf courses and it’ll be a long time before we get to look at it again. (The new find) is highly significant, and our philosophy is to try to preserve and protect it for the future.”

That point worries several state parks officials and archeologists, who fear that a combination of encroachment by nature and man will damage or obscure the sites.

“Historical resources are damaged more after a fire than during a fire and the damage comes from erosion and people,” Barter said. “A lot of it is inadvertent. But people must remember that, legally and ethically, destroying any of the historic resources that are the heritage of all of us is not the thing to do. Some of the objects are very fragile, fragile enough that just walking on them could cause problems. Also, they’re not the sorts of objects that would excite the average individual, but they’re very important to someone who’s trained.”

State officials said the park closure is part of an attempt to keep the earth from washing away and destroying the sites.

“They’re highly susceptible to erosion problems,” Sampson said. “Some sites may have to be treated more actively using erosion control blankets.”

The blankets are made of wood and biodegradable plastic and allow for plant growth while anchoring soil to steep hillsides.

Archeologists see the issue also as a race against time and what might be called social evolution along the highly desirable Southern California coastline.

“If you look at the coast from San Diego north beyond Crystal Cove,” Barter said, “how much land is there that hasn’t been built upon? We need this land, because there isn’t much of it left.”

* VOLUNTEERS REPLANT PARK: Rebeautifying the land after Laguna fire is the goal. B1