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Excavation to Begin Soon for Development on Archaeological Site in Branciforte
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Excavation to Begin Soon for Development on Archaeological Site in Branciforte
Remains Found of Early California Village
By Michael Thomas
No one is entirely sure what the ground will yield when excavation begins later this year on a vacant parcel in the Branciforte neighborhood of Santa Cruz. Four homes are planned for a property that falls within the historic footprint of Villa de Branciforte, one of the three oldest secular communities in California.
In 2003, traces of an adobe from the late 1700s were unearthed on a property next door to the development.
The project, which includes two Habitat for Humanity homes, was approved by the Santa Cruz City Council on Mar. 24. According to developer
Bill Brooks, “We’ll be filing the final map within 30 days and then construction should start within the next 30 days.”
When Brooks begins, the work will be closely supervised.
“There will be an archaeologist on site to watch as they dig,” he added. “We are not just leaving it up to the backhoe operator to decide whether he has dug up something historic.”
However, Brooks doubts the backhoe will unearth anything substantial. The developer has already hired archaeologists to dig test pits and scan the ground with magnetic resonance equipment.
According to City Planner Mike Ferry, “Those guys went through more archaeology than I’ve encountered on any other project.”
The Wrong Side of the River
Villa de Branciforte was established by the Spanish in 1797 â€" about 10 leagues north of Monterey and across the San Lorenzo River from the Santa Cruz Mission. When the Spanish found few willing settlers, they ultimately offered convicts their freedom in exchange for moving to the Villa. For over a hundred years, the small community was viewed as “the wrong side of the river.”
The territory was part of Spain’s American colonies, supervised from 1794 to 1798 by the 53rd Viceroy of Spain, Don Miguel de la Grua Talamanca Branciforte, also known as the Marques de Branciforte.
In part because most of the inhabitants were illiterate, little is known about the community or the exact location of 17 or 18 adobe homes that were scattered about the area. The only remaining adobe above ground is on Branciforte Avenue. The historic plazas probably rest beneath Albertson’s grocery store and a used car dealer at Water and Branciforte.
Foundation of 1700s Adobe Found Next Door
In 2003, a property owner on Belvedere Terrace, next door to the current development site, unearthed the remains of a 200-year old adobe wall. Ed Silveira, who lives nearby and was an early development opponent, recognized the find while his neighbor’s gas line was being installed.
“I was having lunch and I was watching the workers shovel up roof tiles,” Silveira said. “I went out to look at them and they were Spanish roof tiles.”
He notified the City and archaeologist Mary Doane was called out to verify the find. The wall’s location coincided with a map from 1854 showing the Cornelio Perez adobe at that location. Based on the orientation of the wall, officials believe the Perez adobe lies mostly beneath the existing roadway on Belvedere Terrace. Another structure on the map and a Spanish well from a later map have yet to be located.
A few days later, the portion of the Perez adobe exposed by that trench was covered with a new sidewalk, but not before a sudden rainstorm destroyed parts of it. Since then Silveira, who lives in a 1860s farmhouse nearby, has remained determined that no other archaeological finds in the neighborhood are destroyed or covered up.
He founded the Villa de Branciforte Preservation Society to drum up interest and support for the neighborhood’s history.
Early Village Remains a Mystery
Cabrillo College archaeology professor Rob Edwards said the discovery of the Perez adobe provided a small piece of a largely incomplete puzzle.
“It’s very significant precisely because we know almost nothing about Villa de Branciforte. … There really hasn’t been a formal investigation into … what went on there,” he added.
At the time the Perez adobe was unearthed next door, Brooks had a plan in the works to build two triplexes on the vacant lands.
That project had been considered Categorically Exempt from CEQA environmental impact mitigation. But the City put the project on hold while Brooks hired San Jose archaeologist Robert Cartier to do a series of surveys on the property.
Magnetic resonance imaging was used to scan for dense patches of ground that might hold additional adobe walls. A grid of 57 test pits was dug around the property. No major features were found, but the digging unearthed Spanish roof tiles, fragments of ceramic dishware, bottle glass and butchered bone.
For Brooks, it wasn’t the first time he had seen artifacts come out of the ground. Years ago, while excavating a building site at the corner of Neary Street and Felix Street, he found the debris pit from a pre-1800 beer factory.
“There were a jillion bottles and labels and things in there. So I stopped the project for about a week so they could get out whatever they could,” he recalled.
While the Belvedere Court project was on hold, Brooks built the Reed Way Cottages down the hill. That project required him to build two affordable housing units. Last summer, Brooks applied to have the two units built up at the Belvedere Terrace property instead.
As a result, the original triplexes were dropped and Habitat for Humanity will now build two houses alongside two for-sale homes that Brooks will complete. Brooks will also do all the site preparation and lay the foundations for the Habitat homes.
According to Ferry, “Most of the neighbors that came to the public meetings were in favor of those projects.”
However, Silveira was not swayed. He is additionally disappointed that Brooks abandoned a Spanish home design that would have recognized the neighborhood’s history.
More Walls Will Likely Be Struck
During the excavation process, the archaeologist on site will be able to order that excavation halt if any “intact” archaeological resources are uncovered. Critics, such as Boyd de Larios of the historic preservation group Los Californianos, doubt that anything will meet the standards of “intact” after being unearthed by a backhoe.
However, Cabrillo’s Edwards said that the mitigation language sounded sufficient. “Usually there’s a lot of pressure on the contractor not to stop,” he said. When the mitigation language allows the archaeologist to make the call, “that’s about as strong as you can get.”
Though officials don’t believe that any of the Perez adobe lies on Brooks’ development property, he will have to dig a new trench for a water line that runs right across where the Perez adobe walls are believed to be. City officials have noted a “high potential to encounter cultural materials” during those offsite excavations.
The exact location of an old Spanish well in the area remains unknown and could be uncovered during site preparation as well. Silveira thinks the well, if it exists, could be full of artifacts.
“Everybody knows when you stop using wells people throw stuff in them,” he said. “The neighbors here find stuff all the time just digging around in the yard.”
When excavation starts this summer, Silveira will be watching from nearby.
“The stuff that we accumulate, we want to have it on display,” he said, complaining that the roof tiles found next door are still locked in storage in Salinas. “We are talking 200 years of history here.”
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