PHT CITADEL

NEWSLETTER
Vol. 1, No. 5

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. It was a multicultural community initiated in
1769 by Spain's King within the territory of the Native Kumeyaay people; 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

ANIMAL BONES CAN TALK
Eleven studies have been conducted on
archaeologically recovered garbage faunal remains
from the San Diego Presidio, chronicling an exciting
multi-cultural heritage. They include two Master's
theses, student term projects, and scholars'
endeavors, all assembled in the PHT Archives. Many
additional interpretive stories and hypotheses tests are
inherent -- for dietary, cultural husbandry, and biota
topics. Two massive faunal collections exist: one
curated at SDSU and one with the City of San Diego. A
summation with scholarly references indexing these
studies was presented at the 2015 California Mission
Studies Conference by Paul Chace and published as
“Animal Bones Can Talk, Interpreting San Diego
Presidio Fauna,” CMS Boletin 31(1):203-211. See:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B32IzkA5JTOrX1k
0Zk1XcWFiTVk
We would especially like to thank the Society for
California Archaeology for providing the Trust
with a grant to support our public outreach
efforts.
KUMEYAAY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
The new school year is beginning and many
classrooms will be learning about the Kumeyaay
sovereign nations that share the greater San Diego
and Baja California areas. One of the best ways to do
that is to access http://www.kumeyaay.info on line.
You can also download A Teacher’s Guide to
Historical and Contemporary Kumeyaay Culture by
Geralyn Marie Hoffman and Lynn H. Gamble, Ph.D. at
http://irsc.sdsu.edu/docs/pubs/KumeyaayGuide.pdf
BARONA HOSTS A STONE KNAPPING CLASS

PHT SPANISH COLONIAL PAPERS ARCHIVE

PHT has assembled copies of 2,000 pages of Spanish
colonial papers documenting earliest San Diego. Most
have been secured from Spanish archives, from Seville
to San Francisco. Many were amassed years ago by
Dr. Jack Williams. Indexing is underway, and volunteer
assistants are sought. Numerous documents were
utilized by PHT scholars in preparing articles on the
location and settling of 1769 Kosaii-San Diego
(Geoffrey Mogilner, “Cosoy: Birthplace of New
California,”) and initial Kumeyaay-Spanish relations
(Paul Chace, “International Alliance –International
Assault, A Sovereign Kosaii Kumeyaay
Perspective....”). Studies are progressing on Kosaii
Capitan Naguasajo, Lt. Pedro Fages, and Gov.
Fernando Rivera while in San Diego. Students and
scholars are invited to utilize the PHT Archives. PGC

INTERESTED INTERNATIONAL FOLLOWERS

To our delight, PHT has subscribers to the newsletter
and on social media from around the world: Punjab,
India; Bangladesh; South Africa; Somalia; Dominican
Republic; Japan; Australia; Indonesia; and the highest
number are from the Philippines. We ave at least one
newspaper and they have used articles in their own
publication. Many are students or teachers. alm
 PHT CITADEL NEWSLETTER

CRUCIFIXES: FAITH & RESISTANCE

Catholic crucifixes and religious medallions have been encountered in the Presidio archaeology. Symbolically
representing religious faith, such talismans were presented to the converted and faithful, often to be worn on a neck
cord. For the Chapel-cemetery excavations, Professor Richard Carrico reported that a number of metal crucifixes were
recovered with the burials, generally in the chest region. One burial had an oval medallion, “La Milagrosa de Paris” (of
1820); a similar medal was recovered in the “priests' quarters.” The dig also found a crucifix near the base of a wood
post-mold, probably signifying pre-1773 church construction. During 1990 explorations near the Presidio's northeast
corner, recovered an intact St. Demetrius pendant medallion. Dr. Diane Barbolla reported West Wing excavations
encountered a broken crucifix in room 4 South Mound; a partial crucifix deep in the debris infilling in room 2 South
Mound probably dating from 1805-1815; and a broken oval medallion in the debris infilling room 1 North Mound.
Significantly, from the suspected 1790s trash/construction deposition for the new cannon battery, the modest
samplings yielded numerous specimens, ten crucifixes and medallions; and most may have been discarded intact. If
that sampling was even 2% of this deposition, then hundreds of these religious gifts were thrown away intentionally;
theoretically, this best might be explained as quiet acts of subaltern Kumeyaay resistance against religious leaders.
PGC

In this photo of three crucifixes you will see two are broken. The one on the left may have been broken in place since
there are both parts, but there was no part found that would complete the one on the right. Photos by Paul G. Chace

The center cross shows

the Virgin Mary to the
reverse. The medallion
right has Mary as the
central figure.

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editor@sandiegopresidio.com with the
Additionally a number of medallions that would desired action in the subject line
probably be used to connect the crosses to rosaries
were found. Some of those apparently had saints’ Help Support Old Town
represented while others had what appeared to be Toby’s Candle and Soap Shop
putti. 2645 SAN DIEGO AVE