3.5 Cultural Resources
(Kumeyaay-Ipai) or Shoshonean (Luiseo). These traditions/complexes cover a broad time span with the
San Dieguito Complex dating from 10,000 or before to 7,500 B.P., the La Jolla 7,500 to 3,000 B.P., and
the Late Prehistoric 3,000 to 2,000 B.P.
At the time of contact with Europeans, the local Native American peoples were utilizing numerous coastal
resources including shellfish, seaweed, shore birds, and fish. Archaeological evidence indicates that lagoon
and other coastal areas have attracted human activity throughout much of prehistory.
The San Diego region has culturalresources that are documented to be more than 9,000 years old. Recent
dating of cultural materials on the southern California Channel Islands suggests that materials as old as
11,000 years may be expected in the San Diego region. What is known of prehistoric settlement locations
in the San Diego region suggests that the coastal zone was highly desirable. Since the shoreline held
significant subsistence resources for prehistoric peoples, it is expected that many cultural resources dating
from the 10,000-year or younger period are located in the offshore zone. Given the concentration of sites
along the modern shoreline, it is reasonable to expect that submerged sites would also exist along
paleoshore lines dating from the 10,000 - 3,000 B.P. time period. Archaeological evidence for these sites
may still exist despite their being subjected to a rising sea level, leading to their submergence. Indeed, the
rising sea level might have created favorable ecological setting in certain areas, such as embayments and
estuaries, and these now submerged features may have concentrated local populations and settlement
patterns.
Numerous prehistoric artifacts have been reported by divers in the nearshore zone of the San Diego region.
Three main theories have been suggested to explain why those resources would be offshore. They may
be artifacts carried offshore by the erosion of onshore coastal sites. They may be objects which fell from
prehistoric sea-going craft. They may be artifacts that represent the remains of offshore prehistoric sites,
dating from periods when that location was not submerged, but which are presently exposed on the sea
floor.
Table 3.5-1 lists prehistoric artifact localities reported offshore from San Diego County. At least 37
offshore artifact localities have been reported between San Elijo Lagoon south to the Mexican border. All
of these sites, with the exception of the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club site (Site Number 11) and the
Solana Beach (Site Number 36) site, report relatively small numbers of artifacts. The best documented
submerged archaeological site in San Diego County is offshore from the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club
where more than 2,000 stone mortars have been recovered at water depths of up to 90 feet. In addition,
this site has yielded stone pestles, metate fragments, manos, and grooved stones that may have been used
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