By El Gaucho, February 9, 1960
They’re still digging up the past in Goleta! And all indications show that the Chumash Indians, who inhabited the land about 1,000 years ago, were quite technologically advanced for a primitive people.
Minute micro-drills which were ingeniously shaped to carve out thousands of tiny shell beads worn by these proto-historic Indians have been found — among other relics — in the most recent diggings near Fairview and Hollister Avenue.
The researchers are members of a UCLA Archaeological Survey team under the direction of Marshall McKusick. Under contract with the Bureau of Beaches and Parks and the Highway Commission, McKusick’s crew includes a number of professional archaeologists as well as 22 UCSB undergraduates who have interest in this area of study.
Director McKusick explains that this particular survey is unique for the surveyors are employing various detailed and controlled sampling techniques not usually used by archaeological teams. This “fine screening” and “lab sorting” was learned of by McKusick from William Harrison, UCSB archaeologist, who has worked on other Goleta sites.
Students at UCSB who have been helpful in straight excavation of the site were recruited from classes of social sciences chairman Prof. Norman Gabel and anthropology instructor Roger Owen.
