Construction unearths native remains

Discovery second one this year

By Daniel Hindin

As construction workers begin building the Sunnyvale of the future, they are learning that you can never escape the past.

Earlier this month, workers digging a trench on the northwestern corner of Sunnyvale and Iowa avenues found the remains of a human skeleton 18 feet underground.

Construction on what will eventually be Parking Structure D of the Wave, Sunnyvale's new mall, was immediately halted. Sunnyvale's Assistant Director of Public Works John Hopkins explained the traditional procedures in this situation.

"After bones are found, construction is immediately halted. An archeologist is brought in to do some research. The archeologist outlines the area where he thinks additional, careful excavation must be done. These areas are then extensively investigated with smaller tools and hand-trenching," he says.

According to Hopkins, the archeologist who was called to the site determined that the bones were most likely remains of an Ohlone Indian. The Ohlone were the primary inhabitants of this area prior to imperialist invasion.

Hopkins says that once the bones were identified as Ohlone, Native American representative Kathy Perez was called upon to take custody of the remains.

Hopkins adds that the archeologist determined that there were no signs of any more bones in the area. If more bones had been found, construction may have been delayed for months.

"Because no other bones were found," says Hopkins, "the construction team was given the OK. Native American representatives will conduct a reburial ceremony under the parking structure."

This is not the first time this year that construction has been halted because of bones found during an excavation project in Sunnyvale. Workers found remains of another human skeleton, which was also deemed Ohlone, on May 9, of this year while they were digging on Fair Oaks Avenue in order to lay new sewer lines. The same procedures were taken on the Fair Oaks site and the same results were determined.

"We haven't heard of any connection between the two skeletons at this point," says Acting Public Works director Mark Dettle. "We are still waiting for the archeological report."

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