Exhibit Documents Rose Canyon's History

Beach Bay Press
September 1, 2005
Nicole Sours Larson

Ever wonder who lived in the beach communities 10,000 years ago? Or even 100 years ago and what their lives were like?

A new exhibit developed by the San Diego Archaeology Center at the Earl & Birdie Taylor Library "Rose Canyon: A Walk Through History" opens today, Sept. 1 features artifacts found during excavations for a sewer project through Rose Canyon in the early 1990s.

Rose Canyon, which begins in Mira Mesa and ends at Mission Bay, with I-5 running through it, is particularly interesting to archaeologists and significant to the history of the region because it has been inhabited continuously for the last 10,000 years, explained Annemarie Cox, program coordinator for the San Diego Archaeology Center.

The Rose Canyon dig revealed artifacts left or discarded by residents throughout human habitation, including very recent history.       "With Rose Canyon every cultural period we acknowledge, from the San Dieguito period to the present day, is represented in the collection," Cox said.

Included along with eight panels describing the geology, flora and fauna and the history human activities in the canyon, will be a range of artifacts including ancient tools and post-Spanish manufactured objects.

Both the San Dieguito period, dating to 10,000 years ago, and the La Jolla period dating to 7,500 years ago, are represented in the exhibition.

"The nicest pre-contact artifacts are made of quartzite, which predominates in Rose Canyon, where it was turned into choppers and scrapers," Cox explained.

Pre-contact objects were made from natural substances such as stone, bone, pottery or shell. On exhibit will be projectile points, including arrowheads, carved from local quartz, chert and chalcedony as well as tools made from obsidian and other more distantly-produced materials ancient residents would have acquired through trade.

The post-contact, or historic-era objects, dating from after the Spanish arrival in 1769, are generally made of manufactured materials such as metal, glass or porcelain.

"The really neat artifacts came from around Elvira (location of a mid-19th century Rose Canyon railroad depot), including the ear from a porcelain doll, a Mexican glazed piggy bank and some flattened coins taken from railroad tracks," Cox said. "We know that the station manager was the only employee allowed to have family living with him. We have women's artifacts, to show they were there.

Much of the design and selection of the artifacts for the Pacific Beach exhibition was done by Davis Burton, a high school sophomore at Westview High School in Rancho Penasquitos, who has been volunteering at the center the last two summers. He drew upon material assembled for previous larger exhibitions mounted at Lindbergh Field's Terminal 2 and at the archaeology center.

"The goal of the exhibit is to help the citizens of Pacific Beach know about where they live. There's 10,000 years of history, right there in Pacific Beach," Cox added.

Douglas Spence, library manager for the Pacific Beach Library, which also offers on-going art exhibits in its community room, is pleased to offer this educational opportunity to local residents.

"It falls within the library's mission and it's of special interest to the people of Pacific Beach and Mission Beach. It's the history of this area - it really is local history," he said.

Archaeology center staff will present a program on the history of Rose Canyon as told through its natural history and the recovered artifacts at a meeting of the Pacific Beach Historical Society on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 1 p.m. The meeting is free and open to the public.