Relic Study at Road Site Completed : Camarillo: Experts say the possibility of finding more Native American remains or artifacts is slim.

Archeologists say they no longer believe that a small stretch of Santa Rosa Road under construction outside Camarillo will yield more Native American remains.

After several weeks of grading for the road improvement project, the archeologists say they do not expect to find more Chumash burial chambers like the one found in December.

While county officials have eagerly returned to full-paced work on the project, a Chumash descendant designated by California officials to monitor the site said the decision to abandon further archeological research may remove any hope of future discoveries.

“I think it’s a bad idea,” said the monitor, A Lul Koy Lotah, whom officials consider to be a likely descendant of any Chumash who may be buried there. “We haven’t been on site long enough to make a determination like this.”

But the county-paid team of archeologists determined last week that the chance of finding further remains or artifacts is slim and that county crews could continue widening and improving the road, which stretches from the eastern edge of Camarillo to Thousand Oaks.

“We have found no further evidence at the site and now believe that the burials we have already found there may have been previously dug up,” said Renee Fraser, a Simi Valley-based archeologist. She said the burial sites may already have been disturbed by early grave robbers.

“That conclusion was reached because we have yet to find a completely intact burial,” she said. “Everything we have seen so far has been scrambled and messed up.”

Kenneth Gordon, the county’s principal engineer for the project, said the archeological study ended after several weeks of grading--removing only 1 1/2 inches of dirt at a time--turned up no further remains.

“We used what we call a very-thin-layer method out there during grading operations,” Gordon said. “But if there was anything to be found, I’m confident we would have found it.”

Native Americans are still monitoring the site in case of further discoveries.

The improvements to the 90-year-old, two-lane road were first interrupted in December after grading crews unearthed a cremation chamber containing the fragmented remains of two to three Chumash. Those remains were subsequently reburied at a nearby location.

Then, in early February, archeologists working the site discovered a series of rounded, smooth stones believed to be part of a Chumash Indian burial ritual.

During its March 18 meeting, the Board of Supervisors directed county crews to resume construction at the site on a “go-slow” basis, grading thin layers of earth from the project area at a time. Work was to have been halted if any additional burial sites or artifacts were discovered.

Construction on the road began in 1990 and is being done in three phases, with the final phase to be completed next year. The project aims to eliminate the more dangerous curves and hills on the thoroughfare.

Gordon said a full report will be presented to the Board of Supervisors later this spring.