COSTA MESA : Ancient Dump to Be Developed for Public

A 30-acre area of Fairview Park where archeologists have explored an ancient garbage dump will be graded, landscaped and opened to the public this summer.

Parks Supt. David Alkema said the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee will meet within the next few months to decide how to develop the area.

Alkema said plants and paths are likely, but ball fields and more active uses will probably not be allowed.

The site is on a bluff overlooking the Santa Ana River.

Almost 4,000 years ago, people came to the area to collect shellfish and hunt, said retired anthropology professor Keith Dixon, who began exploring the site in 1958.

Dixon said he and his students at Cal State Fullerton spent many summers digging at the site.

They found mostly ancient trash--broken stone tools, shells and rocks. The stone tools were used for grinding, cutting and scraping.

Everything that the ancient societies used was thrown in the garbage heap, Dixon said.

Archeologists have done about all they can to study the site, Dixon said, and recommended that it be capped for protection. But if new techniques were developed, the site could be studied again, he said.

Dixon also said that archeologists want to focus their energy on sites that are in danger of being developed.

The Fairview Park site is safe, he said, and can be set aside for later study.

The Keith Cos., which was hired by the city, has studied the site to find where the historically valuable garbage is located.

That area will be capped, and the artifacts discovered during the survey will be turned over to Dixon for safekeeping, the City Council decided last week.

The council also decided that anything found at the site should be stored at Cal State Fullerton until it can be displayed in Costa Mesa.

Alkema said the city has nowhere to show the ancient garbage, but he also said there may not be much there that people would want to see.

Dixon agreed that the objects are not visually exciting but said they are valuable to scientists.

“By analyzing the trash, you learn an awful lot about people,” Dixon said. “It’s the most important source of information for archeologists.”