Unearthing History

Yosemite Park archaeologist finds herself at home.

By Rochelle Frank
Fresno Bee - July 19, 2002

EL PORTAL -- Stepping lightly down a steep slope covered with stickery weeds, Laura Kirn makes her way to a broad granite boulder pocked with soup-bowl-shaped holes. Slipping out of her sandals, she easily hoists herself up onto the shoulder of the rock and inspects the varied surface that has known a human touch for perhaps thousands of years.

Laura Kirn (at right), park archaeologist at Yosemite National Park, explains how some of the grinding bowls were used by American Indians. (Photo by Laura Gast/Sierra Gateway Neighbors)

Kirn seems familiar with the ancient technologies that shaped this stone and sits comfortably cross-legged and barefoot on the sun-warmed surface. She looks like a student on summer vacation, but she's actually working.

Yosemite Park's head archaeologist since 1991, Kirn has been digging into the past for the past 20 years. Most of that time has been in Yosemite, with some special project work done in other parks.

These days much of her time is spent behind a computer keyboard, processing detailed data about archaeological discoveries, but she still appreciates the times her work takes her into remote areas to search unexplored sites.

There are often many mortar holes in one rock, and they may be of varied depths, shapes and sizes. One may be more appropriate for the coarse grinding of acorns, which was a major staple food, and a shallower depression is more suitable for fine grinding of the meal.

Other bowls may have been used to crush seeds, berries and even small animals. She runs her hand over a barely visible indentation and surmises that it might have been a suitable spot for holding acorns in place while cracking the hard shell.

It's a substantial example, yet a typical mortar stone that also indicates that preparing food was a communal and social activity, with several women working together at once. Locating several such stones in proximity can suggest that many people lived in an area for extended periods, or seasonally returned to the same spot.

The ancient depressions are now filled with leaves, pine needles and other forest debris. Kirn says they are often left that way, because at a later date there may be more specific testing done to see if any traces of protein matter remain at the bottom of the grinding bowls. The debris can protect detectable evidence that indicates exactly what was processed in the mortars.

Kirn's family moved to Yosemite when she was 11 years old. Her mother, Mary Ellen Kirn, who now owns Poppy Hill Bed and Breakfast in Midpines, said her husband worked for the National Park Service, and when he was transferred to Yosemite, they came to live in El Portal. All six of the Kirn children attended school in the area.

"She was always a good student," Kirn's mom said, adding that Laura knew she wanted to go into archaeology when she entered college. "It is very rewarding for her. I'm pleased to see her working in Yosemite." Relating to her own experience of being a federal court clerk in the Yosemite Valley, she said, "I saw something more beautiful every day."

Though the head archaeologist herself seems reluctant to claim any personal achievements, her mom does not mind mentioning that this daughter was class valedictorian when she graduated from Mariposa High School.

She has continued to win recognition. In 2000 Kirn won the Appleman Judd Award, which is the regional director's resources management recognition of excellence, achievements and contributions to the park service. This year Kirn and her team shared another honor for contributions to the Yosemite Valley Plan.

Kirn, who has spent her entire career in Yosemite, with some project work in California national parks, said that she was interested in archaeology at an early age. As a child she eagerly pored over National Geographic magazines and was fascinated by real mysteries.

While still in college, studying field, lab, library and museum techniques, she began working in the Yosemite archaeology program and earned her bachelor of science degree in anthropology at Santa Clara University.

"In earlier days," she said, "archaeology was more of a salvage operation, a matter of picking up what was turned up by bulldozers." Today, she is glad to say that there is a lot more awareness of what might be found, and sites are surveyed before any construction or roadwork is anticipated.

Her job may not be as exciting as the one portrayed by Indiana Jones, but it does have its moments. Kirn recalls finding a spiral pictograph incised into a granite face near a remote site of native habitation. Pictographs are relatively rare within the Yosemite area, though fairly numerous in some eastern Sierra regions.

More common evidence of early residents are obsidian flakes, remnants of tool and weapon making. The hunting points that have been found range from hefty spear tips to delicate arrowheads. It is believed that the native tribes of the Yosemite Valley traveled to the eastern side of the Sierra to obtain this valuable material, and traded with the tribes who inhabited the eastern slopes. Obsidian is a volcanic glass, usually shiny black, and suitable for making tools and weapons with a razor-sharp edges.

The archaeologists value the obsidian tools for an additional reason. Since the surface absorbs molecular moisture at a certain rate, scientific testing can give a relative, and in some cases, an exact age for a man-made item created from the glasslike stone.

Though field work is enjoyed by all eight archaeologists in the Park Service Archaeology Office, Kirn says that over half of their work is actually done indoors, compiling and classifying data. Cataloguing, archiving and organizing information into highly technical reports consumes a large percentage of time.

"It's probably not as exciting as you might think," Kirn said quietly as she surveyed the confined spaces of the office jammed with books, boxes, reference materials and computer equipment, "and it's my staff who does the REAL work."

When any of them are heading for the "back country," armed with topographic maps and compasses, comprehensive data is gathered at each archaeological site. Sometimes they hike long distances at high elevations and over rugged terrain, carrying heavy packs.

Dimensions and elevations of discovery sites are often documented using Global Positioning System technology to pinpoint locations. Photos, drawings, diagrams and measurements are collected. Measurements and tracings are made of individual artifacts, and various methods of lab analysis are used to ascertain details about discoveries.

Technological advantages of computer data bases, polarized light photos and enhanced photo imaging have been added to older methods of analyzing information.

The archaeologists are aware that park-service proposals and cultural considerations are sometimes at odds. The NPS itself is constantly dealing with the contradiction of saving the wilderness for the people as well as saving it from them.

Concerns of many different groups mean dealing with a maze of federal and state regulations, as well as historic preservation statutes. The work includes addressing increasing environmental awareness, as well as consulting with representatives of traditional American-Indian groups.

"Even though we are involved in a science-based pursuit of knowledge, we have an obligation to consult with tribal representatives," said Kirn, who has contact with members of seven different tribes. She recognizes that most discoveries are best understood within their cultural context.

Sandy Chapman, a member of the Southern Sierra Miwok council and a direct descendant of native Yosemite tribal leaders, appreciates Kirn's sensitivity to cultural views.

"Laura has been very caring in listening to our issues and takes an interest in our concerns," she said.

Even though tribal representatives have been disappointed with some recent administrative decisions, there is a feeling that their voices are at least being heard by some.

From time to time visitors find obsidian weapon points or tools, and turn them in to the museum. Though the archaeologists appreciate the fact that people recognize that such items belong to the area, they would rather have discoveries left in place so the context of the surroundings can be examined. The placement and proximity of items often tell a more detailed story than a single displaced item.

Kirn feels that most visitors are respectful of the region's treasures, both natural and man-made. In fact, vacationers and hikers have occasionally found previously undiscovered sites and notified park authorities.

"When we find something in the back country, we often leave it in place, said project archaeologist Sonny Montague, who works with Kirn. "If it is in a place where it won't be disturbed, we would rather leave it intact, so further investigation can be done."

With an enclosing gesture of her arm she describes a rock ring, a feature sometimes discovered in site surveys. Varying in size from a few inches in diameter to several feet across, rock rings of various sizes can sometimes be identified as the bases of shelters, supports for acorn granaries or even fire pits, but often they remain mysterious.

Many of the items collected by Yosemite archaeologists over the years can be viewed by visitors to the Yosemite Valley museum. Though not all on display, the museum artifacts number nearly a million individual bits of archaeological evidence, as well as biological, geologic and historical items. Scholars and researchers can access original information and several detailed reports generated each year by the office.

So far, said Kirn, the archaeological investigations have located more than 13,000 sites, and that includes only about 8 percent of the park's area. With eight employees working in the department and the help of four seasonal interns, there is still much to explore. Vast areas of the park have been inhabited for thousands of years, and each discovery requires meticulous attention to detail.

The researchers are in the process of testing a new predictive model based on environmental and cultural data. It is actually kind of a computer map of possible sites for future exploration.

Basing their hypotheses on previous discoveries, it is hoped that evidence of prehistoric habitation may be discovered in similar areas. Flat spaces near a water supply are likely locations for ancient encampments, especially if food supplies and other resources were plentiful.

All the landmarks associated with the world-famous national park were recognized by early people as places of sacred importance, Kirn said. Traditional legends of the Miwok indicate that area below Yosemite Falls has been a region of spiritual significance for tribal peoples for perhaps as long as humans have inhabited the glacier-formed valley.

Research extends into these historic periods too. In the area near the base of the famous falls, it is known that James Hutchings built a sawmill that operated for a few years around 1860.

Historical records, interviews and writings about the period say that John Muir, the influential naturalist, actually managed the mill for a while. No remnants of the actual structure itself remain. It is believed that the building was moved to another location after Yosemite was designated a national park, but Montague and others believe they have found the man-made mill race channel that diverted a stream to turn the waterwheel-driven machinery.