Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza construction site.
PHOTO BY JUSTIN POLIZZI
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians broke ground on the tribe’s namesake cultural plaza on May 11, 2018, at the corner of East Tahquitz Canyon Way and North Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. The site of the Agua Caliente Hot Mineral Spring, known as Séc-he, the Cahuilla term for the sound of boiling water, had seen several iterations over the last century. Empty since the 2014 teardown of the Spa Hotel, the parcel was to become the Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza — a center operated by the tribe with a state-of-the-art mineral water spa and a cultural museum to shed light on the rich heritage of the Indigenous Cahuilla people.
By July, the construction crew had reached a depth of about 11 feet, when cultural monitors unearthed significant archaeological features in two separate locations on the same day. Meticulous artifact recovery and investigation paused development for four months, as tribal members teamed with archaeologists and data analysts from Statistical Research Inc. (SRI) to determine just how old the findings could be.
The endeavor turned out to be one of the most important Indigenous archaeological digs in California — and perhaps the world. In the book 8,000 Years: Unearthing the History of the Agua Caliente People at Séc-he (2023), the tribe chronicles its momentous discoveries. Here, we present Chapter 3, “The Survey & Testing.” The story picks up after construction has halted, initially describing hundreds of items already uncovered before the discovery of this intact deposit, which had not previously been disturbed. The team from SRI is about to visit the site for the first time. — Emily Chavous Foster
Projecticle points.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY AGUA CALIENTE BAND OF CAHUILLA INDIANS
The Lingo
Indigenous archaeology: Archaeology conducted by, for, and with Indigenous people that frames excavations from an Indigenous rather than Western viewpoint.
Cultural monitors: Tribal representatives dispatched to work on construction or archaeological sites where sensitive Native American resources may be unearthed.
THPO: The Tribal Historic Preservation Office oversees cultural monitors and liaises with archeologists during excavations. Their expertise sits at the intersection of traditional archaeological methods and Native American cultural values.
SRI: Statistical Research Inc. is an archaeology and cultural resources management firm based in nearby Redlands. They worked with the tribe on a previous project and understand the protocol for protecting and preserving Indigenous resources.
Grading: The act of leveling or sculpting a plot of land for construction.
Lithics: Objects made of stone, such as projectile points, manos, and metates.
Midden: An archaeological term for waste material associated with prior human occupation, which might include items like animal bones, botanical material, and lithics.
Hearth: An archeological feature that represents the remnants of a purposeful fire, distinguished by dark soil and charred material.
The future site of the Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza.
PHOTO BY JUSTIN POLIZZI
The Excerpt
During the first few weeks of grading, hundreds of artifacts were recovered from fill soils that had been mixed in with the rubble of prior development — the many incarnations of bathhouses and other buildings erected here over the last century. However, the discovery of intact midden and features below the fill provided an opportunity to learn more about the Tribe’s history. The Tribal Council and THPO agreed that recovered artifacts could reveal more of the Agua Caliente and Séc-he story.
SRI visited the site to review the area and provide input from an outside archaeological perspective. Upon walking the site, Principal Investigator Scott Kremkau affirmed everyone’s evaluation: The crew had indeed encountered important intact deposits, and the artifacts were most likely very old. The land is positioned not far from the mouth of Tahquitz Canyon, where flash floods have raged throughout history; there was a slim possibility the deposits could have been covered rapidly by sediment washed down from above. Still, 11 feet is a long way below street level, and that would be a lot of material to have accumulated over a brief period of time if this were a young site. The lack of ceramic artifacts at this depth also supported the idea that the deposit was of considerable age. Ceramics emerged in the Southern California region about 1,000 years ago, and although the cultural monitors had already identified 50 or so pieces at shallower levels mixed in with construction fill, there were none present in the intact deposit.
To recover the identified features and determine the full extent of the archaeological deposit, SRI worked with THPO staff at the Tribal Council’s direction to excavate in strategic places around the property. The idea was to recover as many artifacts as possible that would be disturbed by the construction of the Cultural Plaza. Excavation of the building footprints dropped the elevation down to 12 feet below the surface. Shovel test pits (holes excavated with a shovel) and backhoe trenches (holes dug with heavy machinery) would provide a sense of how deep the deposit was and how much horizontal area it covered. If the excavations turned up significant findings, 1-by-1-meter test pits were then excavated, screened, and recorded in great detail. All of these techniques are common to the early stages of an archaeological investigation. Objects recovered were collected and placed in archival bags for analysis and curation, and the locations of the artifacts were recorded in a GIS spatial mapping program. This digital software, known as a geographic information system (GIS), enables users to view data in electronic dynamic layers, making it easier to understand spatial distribution patterns and predict where areas of a site may be buried.
Abalone shell pendants.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY AGUA CALIENTE BAND OF CAHUILLA INDIANS
A geoarchaeologist from SRI, one who specializes in geology and other Earth sciences, visited the site during this time to analyze the stratigraphy, or the varied layers of rock and sediment, providing insight into periods of habitation and flooding. Meanwhile, charcoal samples from excavated features were sent out for radiocarbon dating.
With an exhaustive week of testing complete, a proposal was drafted for the Tribal Council that detailed the results of the test excavations and put forward a plan of action for data recovery.
This initial phase of test excavations showed that the deposit was more than 1 meter thick — and vastly larger than anyone had imagined. Although there were relatively low quantities of lithic artifacts and faunal material recovered, five confirmed hearth features were found as a result of the grading.
The THPO remained in contact with the Tribal Council through all stages of survey, testing, investigation, and data recovery, sharing photos remotely via email and meeting in person to speak in more detail about the daily findings and what was going on.
Eventually, the Tribal Council Members had to see this historic discovery for themselves.
Clam shell beads.
PHOTO COURTESY AGUA CALIENTE BAND OF CAHUILLA INDIANS
Tribal Member Anthony W. Purnel’s roots trace to the Káwisiktem clan, which resided in Tahquitz Canyon and near the Hot Spring. Considering that his distant family may have gathered at this site and stood around the fires that blazed within these hearths sent chills up his spine. To hold a piece of quartz in the palm of his hand that his ancestors would have used to scrape animal hides or to make their projectile points stirred up an unfamiliar emotion, one of excitement and hope; there was a twinge of sadness, too, if only for the fact that this excavation was disturbing the original resting place.
Projecticle points.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY AGUA CALIENTE BAND OF CAHUILLA INDIANS
Construction of the Cultural Plaza was a priority for the Tribe, but this discovery changed everything. The Tribe had one opportunity to learn from the land before they pressed forward with construction, one opportunity to document the activity that occurred at this site so many generations ago. The Tribe had limited historical documentation of Séc-he’s significance and usage from recent history, but no evidence detailed the way of life for those who inhabited this area thousands of years ago. Now, the exposed site painted a picture of the culture at that time, and with this knowledge, Tribal Members could point unequivocally to locations of ancestral activity and better understand their past.
An overview of the archaeological dig.
PHOTO BY JOEY JARECKI