On Sept. 15, 2022, at Water’s Edge Church, Richard Carrico, gave a spectacular O.B. Historical Society Presentation: Peeling Back 10,000 Years of San Diego History: Recent Discoveries at the C. W. Harris Archaeological Site. Richard fielded over an hour of questions, and the crowd didn’t leave until 10 pm!
Forward, into the past! More than 10,000 years ago a group of indigenous people lived along the banks of the San Dieguito River a little east of present-day Rancho Santa Fe and west of the Lake Hodge dam. Situated on a near permanent water source with a myriad of wild game and plant resources this place, known as the C. W. Harris site was occupied continuously for more than ten millennia—right up until the Spanish period. The Harris site is one of the few archaeological sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Originally excavated by Malcolm Rogers in the late 1930s, again in the 1960s and more recently by Richard Carrico and his team of archaeologists, there is no other archaeological site in San Diego County that contains such a treasure trove of data about our First People. Richard peeled back the layers of soil and brought the ancient past to life. We went to more than nine feet deep and see artifacts and environmental evidence of cultural and natural change. What did these people eat, how did they make their stone tools, and how did they adapt to substantial environmental change? Always entertaining and informative, Richard answered those questions and many more as we took a trip into the past, a really, really long ago past.
Thank you Richard Carrico for an amazing trip into the past.
Ocean Beach Historical Society 