Tools from the surface included general core tools, manos, and metates. A basin metate had been reported; and a fragment of one, of sandstone and shaped on its outer surface, was found. Of 9 manos and mano fragments, 5 are bifacial and relatively thin and 4, monofacial. All but 2 of the monofacial artifacts are sandstone, these being of a granitic rock. In cross section the majority of grinding surfaces are unusually convex, especially as they reach the edge and roll partly up the side. A single basalt pestle fragment was obtained. Scraper planes are well represented by 10 with a U-shaped edge development, some well-battered along the worked margin; and 25 single-edged planes, some of which are very large and most displaying flaking back on their edges, generally on the upper surface of the used edge. Four of quartzite and 1 of felsite porphyry are single-edged, the remainder are basalt. The 4 side scrapers are thin flakes, 2 of basalt, 2 of chert. The 3 choppers are of basalt, 1 having served additional use as a hammerstone, and the 4 hammerstones are basalt cores. Patination is noticeable on all, and smoothed flake scars are not uncommon.
LAn-13.—Six bedrock mortars were found here in a sandstone outcrop of the south bank of the creek, 200 feet upstream from the Kiewit Ranch. As the area is covered by a relatively dense oak grove, the fact that no artifacts were found on the surface in the vicinity may be due in part to the thick fall of dead leaves. However, the soil here beneath the leaf mold is no different from that of the region as a whole, being of a light-colored clayey consistency.
LAn-14.—Three-tenths of a mile northeast of Mineral Springs is a basalt quarry and possible habitation site. The spring water is potable and affords the nearest available water source. Over an area of 100 by 75 feet, surrounding the basalt outcrop, the sandy soil is somewhat darker. Whether this is owing to the decomposition of organic refuse strewn about a habitation site or merely to rock weathering, or in part to both, was indeterminable. The only evidence of former activity are several percussion bulbs and a number of specimens displaying a small amount of regular chipping, which suggest crude scrapers. All of these pieces, moreover, have undergone considerable patination so that they are now quite yellowed even on their flaked surfaces. In general appearance and degree of patination the artifacts from this site show marked resemblance to those from San Fernando, LAn-6, just over the divide.
Four-tenths of a mile to the south, .2 of a mile southwest of the home of M. Biencourt, an isolated chopper was picked from the surface of a spur ridge leading to Garrapata Creek. It is a large bifacial tool, battered on the slightly fashioned working edge, of basalt and patinated. No further indication of aboriginal habitation could be discovered in the near vicinity. Lithic tools and rejects, however, were found on the slope just southeast of the Biencourt residence, apparently weathering from a higher source. Investigation at the time was not feasible, however, and further investigation has not as yet been possible.
LAn-16.—Now almost completely destroyed or disturbed by bulldozing and animals, this site is centered in the chicken run of the W. R. Hamilton Ranch, some 3 miles up the Fernwood-Pacific Road, 1.7 air miles southwest of Topanga Post Office. It sits on a somewhat more level shelf of an otherwise steep slope, the east bank of a ravine from which a permanent spring emanates 12 miles from the site. Over an area 60 feet in diameter, dark friable mound soil is still in evidence, though artifacts are now scarce. Three deep bedrock mortars, and some seven smaller, have been worn into a sandstone outcrop toward the upper end of the site, and a single pestle, and scraper plane of quartzite, came from the surface.
LAn-17.—LAn-17 surrounds the spring on the Barton School property to an indeterminable extent. Recent building and cultivation have obliterated or disturbed considerable portions of the old habitation site; however, from what remains, it appears very similar to LAn-8, .3 of a mile southeast. Artifacts lie on the surface of the dark, friable midden deposit, which contrasts with the surrounding light clayey soil, though the discoloration may have been intensified to some extent by seepage and decay of organic matter derived from the heavy oak grove. The artifacts noted consist of a shallow basin metate, manos, only a few general core tools, and a bedrock mortar in a boulder, some 300 feet from the spring.
LA-21 and LAn-21.—Located on a level shelf adjacent to the west bank of Garapata Creek, the site is .72 of a mile east-northeast of Mineral Springs. The upper half is separated from the lower by a 4-foot sandstone face that divides the site midway between the bank and its upper extremity. In all, an area of 50 feet by 75 feet is covered with dark, friable, sandy midden deposit to an undetermined depth, which contrasts with the surrounding light, brown-colored sand. Surface finds included only some scrapers, and a quartz core hammerstone, along with a few cores and more concentrated chert flakes; by far in the majority were head-fractured, carbonized rock fragments. A shallow 10-foot test trench again yielded only fired, fractured rock.
A number of springs are located in this vicinity, all, at present, permanent and potable. Two are within a quarter of a mile, one upstream and one downstream. Two others are within a three-quarter mile radius, one upstream on the old Santa Maria Ranch, and the other at Mineral Springs, to the west across a low range.
LAn-23.—This site is on the east side of Garrapata Creek located in a small cave near the top of a large sandstone outcrop. The habitation deposit consists of loose, ashy dark soil charged with clam and abalone shells, and mammal and bird bones. Artifacts recovered were typical of the late protohistoric period. This site was partly examined by R. F. Heizer in 1946 and called by him “Cave 1” (Heizer and Lemert, 1947, p. 238).
LAn-24.—This site is in the open adjacent to LAn-23. It consists of a refuse deposit some 75 square yards in area. Surface and subsurface artifacts resemble those of Topanga Phase II. This was Heizer’s “Upper Site” (Heizer and Lemert, 1947, p. 238).