Dieguito Discoveries
Dieguito Discoveries – Uncovering the fascinating people
and places in the San Dieguito River Valley
Deborah Johnson
Dieguito Discoveries #2
San Diego Archaeological Center
What looks like a basket of rocks sits on Cindy Stankowski’s
desk at the San Diego Archaeological Center. What they actually,
are, she says, is “the first stage in the digestive system” of
the Indians who used them 3,500 years ago. More about these rocks
shortly.
The Center, housed in the former San Pasqual Elementary School
in rural Escondido, houses 3,000 boxes of artifacts chronicling
San Diego’s history, from thousands of years ago to the
early 1900’s. Some of the bits and pieces of our past come
from military sites, the rest come from housing and commercial
development projects around the county.
Like the Padres’ Petco Park: in excavating the site for
the new ballpark, archeologists discovered pieces of dolls, lots
of bottles, a metal toy train and remnants of dishes. Stankowski,
the Center’s Director, says these artifacts can give us
clues to the people who lived in that very spot. “I get
romantic about it,” Stankowski says. “When I look
at a little piece of china, I think, ‘this is somebody’s
best dishes.’ ” The Petco Park artifacts are soon
to be part of the Center’s collection.
The San Diego Archeological Center was incorporated in 1993
in reaction to the requirements of the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA) for preserving artifacts discovered in the
course of development. The Center also manages and displays artifacts
found on federal property owned by the Department of Defense
and the Department of the Interior.
The Center offers tours and presentations designed to answer
questions about the people and the settlement of San Diego. Among
the teaching tools at the Center are:
•
A comparative shell collection because shells give clues about
the food people of the past ate and the time of year a particular
site was inhabited.
•
A mineral and rock collection to help identify the patterns of
change and development. (Attention geology buffs--the Center
needs volunteers to help sort and identify items in the collection.)
•
A 1500-volume library.
•
A display of the prehistoric and more recent (the last two centuries)
artifacts found in Rose Canyon that help to tell the story the
people who lived there.
San Diego has been inhabited for 10,000 years and archeology “helps
fill in the blanks” of history. “If you find toys
at a site, you know there were children there,” Stankowski
says.
About the rocks on Director Stankowski’s desk: they are
called “manos,” from the Spanish word for “hand” and
were used as tools for grinding food 3,500 years ago.
The San Diego Archeological Center is located at 16666 San Pasqual
Valley Road, in Escondido, about a mile and a half east of
the Wild Animal Park. Call 760-291-0730 for tours. You can
get more information on the web at www.sandiegoarchaeology.org.
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