POLLEN, PHYTOLITH, MACROFLORAL, PROTEIN, AND ORGANIC RESIDUE (FTIR) ANALYSES ON SAMPLES FROM THE MISSION SAN GABRIEL GARDEN COMPLEX, SITE CA-LAN-184H, CALIFORNIA

Summary

Samples were examined from excavations in the Bishop’s Garden area at the San Gabriel Mission Archaeological Site, CA-LAN-184H, in southern California as part of the Alameda Corridor East Construction Authority’s (ACE) San Gabriel Trench Grade Separation project. This area contains a large, dense, partially intact Mission period (1769-1834) artifact deposit and two substantial archaeological features associated with occupation of the San Gabriel Mission. A total of 83 column samples from a Water Complex, an adobe Granary structure, and a midden area north of the train tracks were floated to recover macrofloral remains that can provide information concerning plant resources utilized by the Mission occupants. In addition, the wash of a milling stone fragment from a milling complex in the Water Complex was examined for pollen and phytoliths to determine what resources might have been processed using this tool. A brick was analyzed for phytoliths and macrofloral remains. Phytolith and starch analyses also were conducted on a mano, a steatite bowl fragment, and a burned mano/pestle. Pollen analysis was conducted on fill from beneath four ladrillo (brick) floors and an off-site control sample. Two Cottonwood series triangle projectile points, a mano/pestle, a steatite ground stone bowl, and a Native American style metate fragment were examined for protein residues to determine animal and/or plant resources that might have been processed with these tools. A chert biface and a vesicular basalt ground stone bowl fragment were analyzed for both protein and organic residues, the latter using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Organic residue (FTIR) analysis also was conducted on a Native American olla. Macrofloral, pollen, phytolith, starch, protein residue, and organic residue analyses are used to help address specific research questions relating to site formation processes and the health, status, and ethnicity of Native Americans at the San Gabriel Mission.

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