PIECE OF THE PAST FIND SPURS COUNTY TO RETHINK LAW.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

Los Angeles County supervisors have asked for a study prompted by damage to a federally registered archaeological site by a Leona Valley home construction project.

Supervisors, in a 5-0 vote Tuesday, ordered county public works officials to re-examine county policies regarding earth-moving on archaeologically sensitive sites, which for small projects like individual homes do not get environmental analysis.

``While it is important not to place unnecessary delays on property owners who have a legal right to grade their property, the archaeological sensitivity of Native American burial sites should be recognized,'' Supervisor Mike Antonovich said in his motion.

The study was requested after a property owner grading for a home removed about 15 feet off the top of a ridge beside Elizabeth Lake Road, damaging what a local American Indian leader says was the remains of a camp or burial ground.

A California Native American Heritage Commission official welcomed the county study. Commission environmental specialist Rob Wood suggested the county require examination of archaeological records in areas where there are likely to be artifacts or burials.

That is a policy followed in San Luis Obispo, where American Indian archaeological sites are plentiful, Wood said.

``Just about any place you put a shove in the ground, you dig into a midden,'' Wood said.

San Fernando Band of Mission Indians Chairman John Valenzuela also said he is pleased the county is re-examining its policies.

``You have a very special place, a very significant place,'' Valenzuela said. ``All we ask is that you open your eyes.''

Metates, pestles, stone chips and other prehistoric artifacts were discovered in the area in the 1990s during work for the realignment of Lake Elizabeth Road, Valenzuela said.

City of Palmdale officials shifted the road during construction to avoid an archaeologically sensitive area, he said.

Human remains, buried with rock implements in two cairns, were discovered during the work and reburied on the other side of the road, Valenzuela said.

``The evidence shows there could be a lot of remains, because of the materials we found,'' Valenzuela said.

The property owner gave permission to Valenzuela and other Indians to perform a ritual there Thanksgiving weekend after they discovered the grading.

A complication to the effort to preserve archaeological sites, county officials said, is that by law their location is secret. The law was established to protect them from vandals and ``pot hunters,'' people who gather Indian artifacts.

An organization called the South Central Coast Center keeps records of archaeological sites for Southern California, and will look up records for a fee, county officials said. When it provides information, it is with a disclaimer that requires the recipient to keep the information secret.

Los Angeles County does not require environmental studies for construction of a single home that does not require a zone change.

The Leona Valley grading was legal and done under the proper permit, county officials said.

``There's no violation of any law,'' said Mark Pestrella, a county public works principal engineer.

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Photo:

(color) John Valenzuela, left, chairman of the San Fernando Band of Mission Indians, says a blessing for his sister, Petra Valenzuela, at an Indian archaeological site in Leona Valley.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer