UNEARTHING PAST STIRS EMOTIONS : TRIBAL ENVOYS WALK FINE LINE AS ANCESTORS' REMAINS EXHUMED.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer

Alan Salazar, descended from the Chumash and Tataviam Indians who once roamed the area, stood by sacred burial grounds Wednesday, closely watching as the skeletal remains and artifacts of his own people are unearthed.

Pacing back and forth to assure Caltrans workers are maintaining the integrity of his forebears, Salazar said he walks a fine line about the issue of exhuming what remains of some 17 American Indians along Highway 126.

``You go through just about every emotion that you have. You get angry, and then there's a lot of sadness and concern. There's not a lot of us left,'' said Salazar, designated by the state to monitor the excavation.

On the one hand, he knows all too well the sacredness of the site and how spirits become angry when disturbed.

Yet, he also understands the importance of today's need to widen the dangerous two-lane highway to four lanes. Within a six-week stretch this winter, 11 people died along the scenic east-west artery, dubbed Blood Alley by locals.

``We walk that fine line. We have mixed feelings. We wish we didn't have to do this,'' he said Wednesday, as a dozen Department of Transportation workers sifted through soil for artifacts dating back 300 years.

Since January, Caltrans archeology workers from the Cultural Studies Office in Sacramento have found ancient bowls, mortars, arrowheads and fragments of American Indian bones believed to be from the Chumash and Tataviam tribes that once roamed the river valley centuries ago.

The Tataviam populated the foothills of the western Santa Clarita Valley and southwestern fringes of the Antelope Valley. The Chumash populated the Conejo Valley and the Santa Clara River Valley. The two tribes hunted, gathered and traded through the region, and up through Bakersfield.

Many of the remains were more preserved than expected, possibly because the site had been covered by an old alignment of the highway, and the asphalt protected what was underneath, Salazar said.

Caltrans officials maintain that they are closely following strict state and federal guidelines in excavating the remains and preserving them in safe places.

The coroner was first notified, and then the Native American Heritage Commission in Sacramento, which designated a most likely descendant of the tribes to oversee the project and assure that the treatment of the dead is handled in a dignified way.

Tests will be performed on some of the bones and artifacts to determine their age, said Margaret Buss, a senior environmental planner for Caltrans. Some of the findings will be analyzed at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and radio-carbon dating methods performed at other universities, she said.

After the tests are performed, the bodies will be reburied along with the artifacts in an area agreed upon by their own people, Caltrans officials said.

Salazar sees the importance of documenting history, but said the approach should be sensitive.

``I think some (research) should be done as long as it's done in a respectful way. We feel that that's important, but also we should try to remember the people and be sensitive.''

Other area American Indians are not so understanding. The Chumash and Tataviam people should remain in their original burial grounds, said Randy Angeles, of the Tarascan Tribe, a spiritual leader who blessed the site in a ceremony with a handful of American Indians on Saturday.

``Get Trigger out of Roy Roger's house and put him on display or dig up a president and display him. Enough desecration has been done to us,'' Angeles said.

John Tommy Rosas, a Chumash Indian, said there is meaning behind the location near the Santa Clara River.

``We put our burials by the water because our people return to the sea.''

Angeles, who lives in Pomona, was called upon by area American Indians to perform a prayer, sing songs and exchange words with the dead to assure them that they are concerned.

``When the remains are taken, they become angry. We don't want those remains to be taken to a museum or cut up,'' Angeles said.

Caltrans officials maintain that all of the findings will be returned to the earth, as the American Indians wish.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Ran in SAC and Simi--color in SAC only) Excavation of a Tataviam and Chumash Indian burial site of 17 graves continued Wednesday along Highway 126 near Val Verde.

(2--Ran in SAC, Conejo and Simi only--color) Archeologist Steve Moore, right, sifts through dirt while excavating a Tataviam and Chumash burial site.

(3--Ran in SAC only) Consultant Alan Salazar, left, archeologist Gary Iverson and likely descendant Beverly Folkes discuss the excavation.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News