PHT CITADEL

NEWSLETTER
Vol. 1, No. 2

Welcome to the PHT Citadel Newsletter, produced by the Presidio Heritage Trust to promote the Presidio's rich heritage and enhance tourism for Old
Town San Diego with its Spanish Presidio. The Newsletter's goal is educate the public about this initial European colony in Alta California with its
military garrison, mission church, and diverse families of artisans, a multicultural community initiated in 1769 by Spain's King within the territory of
the Native Kumeyaay; a citadel which became California's Capital in 1827; and then a frontier trading port that evolved to be a
portion of a great urban metropolis – as Old Town San Diego.

Textiles and Identify a Request for Help San Diego Celebration Viva la Pepa, 1812/2017
Ms. Candice Ward approached the Trust requesting information on Officers of the Trust were invited to the anniversary of the Spanish
"Textiles and Identity at the Presidio de San Francisco during Constitution established in Cadiz, Spain, on March 1812. We joined
Spanish Colonial Occupation, 1776-1821" for her Masters thesis. She them at Balboa Park’s House of Spain cottage museum, for grand
says “That includes the ways hospitality, rich sangria, and bountiful foods. Senior Jesus Benayas,
that clothing reinforced and President of the House of Spain civic organization, spoke briefly of
reshaped identity for the the Cadiz accomplishment, Spain’s first national sovereign assembly.
settlers, and the role that Honorary Consul of Spain in San Diego, Senora Maria Angeles
clothing choices or non-choices O’Donnell-Olson joined PHT Trustees, Alijandra Mogilner and Paul
led to the formation of the Chace in dining. Talk of future cultural exchanges and international
Californios and Gente de Razon visits ensued. In Nov. 2013, Crown Prince Felipe of Spain visited
at San Francisco… I'm looking California and the partially restored Santa Barbara Presidio. The
for diary entries, murals, following June he ascended the throne, as Felipe VI, King of Spain.
inventories, written accounts, The hope held by
clothing/adornment samples, both House of
and archaeological reports Spain and
concerning sumptuary laws at Presidio Heritage
all of the Alta California Trust is that King
presidios, as I'd like to compare and contrast how the laws were Felipe VI might
enforced along the West Coast and the Anza Trail.” Members of the soon visit San
Trust were able to help her with original source materials on fabric, Diego and its
costume styles, and notions. However, if any of our readers have any landmark Spanish
information to help Ms. Ward, please contact her at Presidio.
candice.ward@gmail.com
Arch Center Student Call for Papers
GIS Meeting The San Diego Archaeological Center will host their first Student
In March, the Trust held a highly successful meeting to begin the Symposium Saturday, September 30, 2017. They encourage topics
process of developing a Geographic Information System (GIS) that that highlight the growth and depth of Southern California and
would allow both archeologists and tourists to visualize, question, adjacent regions. They would also welcome presentations from
analyze, and interpret artifacts from the Presidio and to see them in international researchers working on technological approaches and
place. GIS helps to understand relationships and patterns. Among digital archaeology. See call for papers at:
other things, we were able to identify two excellent programs and a presentations, and films see: http://sandiegoarchaeology.org/2017-
number of individuals to help us achieve this goal. student-symposium/

PHT Receives Grant from Switzerland Kumeyaay Community College

We want to thank Mr. Tullio Ponzi businessman and philanthropist of Established by the Sycuan
Nyon, Switzerland who has given PHT a grant to cover startup Band to support Kumeyaay
operating costs for the Trust. cultural identity,
sovereignty and self-
Kosaii/Cosoy Article Now Online determination, while
Last month we mentioned the article by Geoffrey Mogilner about the meeting the educational
location of the water source for the Kumeyaay located at Presidio needs of Native and non-
Hill. Native students, KCC
You can now read or download the PDF at: places a special focus on the
http://www.sandiegohistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/v62- Kumeyaay Language,
2_Mogilner.pdf Kumeyaay History,
Learn Kumeyaay Kumeyaay Ethnobotany and
One of the few words all the Nations agree on is a boiling device traditional Indigenous arts
such as a bowl or pot aallyuully such as Kumeyaay Basketry and Pottery.
 PHT CITIDEL NEWSLETTER
Historical Resources Board
Cindy Stankowski,
Executive Director
of the San Diego
Arch Center, has
been appointed to
the archaeologist’s
seat on the City of
San Diego
Historical
Resources Board.
She says The City
of San Diego recognizes the benefits of historic
resource preservation.
A Grand Pismo Clam Dinner
A feature of dumped kitchen trash -- with a
concentration of the broken Pismo Clam shells -- was
recognized in the yard south of the San Diego Presidio
Chapel. Archaeologically, this represents the remains
from a grand dinner of Pismo Clams. Recognized in
the carefully curated collection at San Diego State
University, this material was from the school's 1960s
Presidio excavations. Focused about the “S10 E110”
dig unit, these tasty remains likely originated around
1805-1815. Pismos (Tivela statorium) inhabit an open
coast, surf washed, sandy beach such as at La Jolla.
Typically, gathering shellfish was a women's activity,
so this trove of clams likely came in trade from Native
Onap Kumeyaay women. The Kumeyaay people of
the Onap-San Buenaventura settlement, near La Jolla,
had been contracted to provide fresh fish to the
Presidio since the 1770s; Dr. Jack Williams has
mentioned that there are historic Spanish documents
on this Onap/Presidio relationship. Based on baptismal
records, Prof. Richard Carrico has posed that the Onap
settlement probably was abandoned about 1815, just a
few years after the Mexican Revolution in Mexico
City, when funding for trade was curtailed to the
Presidio.
Acjachemen Uprising at San Juan Capistrano
The purview of the San Diego Presidio reached up to
Mission San Juan Capistrano. There Acjacheman
clans in May 1778 were organizing a grand uprising
against that Mission founded just two years earlier.
Several hundred Native Acjachemen neophytes had
been accommodated and the Spanish missionizing
cultural system was understood, yet Spanish soldiers
the year before had slaughtered warriors in a nearby
village. Acjachemen leaders sent emissaries to nearby
and distant villages urging an uprising. San Diego sent
Sargent Carrillo with seven horse-mounted soldiers
from who rode northward all night. Stephen O'Neil of
San Juan lectured to the Pacific Coast Archaeological
Society in Irvine, April 13th, on the documentation of
this episode. He identified three Acjachemen reasons
for their uprising; one was an improper marriage.
Carrillo's contemporary report survives; he captured
and imprisoned the two uprising leaders, but
documents from the Native leaders' interrogations
have not yet been located.
MA Thesis, Presidio Soldiers' Foods, 1820-35
A new thesis, completed in late 2014, documents the
faunal foods of the San Diego Presidio soldiers and
occupants of the 1820-35 era. Conner Buitenhuys
from CSU Chico analyzed 4,600 food-bone specimens
(17,000 grams) recovered within the Presidio south
wing, from four depositions excavated in 1965-76 by
Paul Ezell, collections curated and accessible at San
Diego State University. Spanish domesticates
dominated -- cattle, chickens, and sheep/goat –- along
with some fish, small game, [shellfish], and various
wild birds (the MNI, minimum number of individuals,
are all very modest). Beef clearly predominated. The
historically attested meager Presidio diet is not
supported archaeologically; rather, local affluence is
demonstrated, even with the economic tumult of the
Mexican revolution. The fracture freshness index
(FFI) reveals a low prevalence of soup bones, unlike
San Francisco Presidio. Nor are creolization models
with Native Kumeyaay practices and wild fauna foods
broadly evidenced. Buitenhuys' thesis is
“Investigating Faunal Remains from the San Diego
Presidio Chapel: Problems of Ethnicity and
Creolization During the Mexican Era” (2014, 159 pp.),
You can download it at
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B32IzkA5JTOrMGF4
REdqakwyWlk/view?usp=drivesdk
Contacting the PHT Citadel Newsletter
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