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Excavating El Presidio de San Francisco A total of 86 underground storage tanks containing bunker oil, fuel oil, gasoline and diesel fuels, waste oils, and solvents, and associated pipelines, features such as tank cradles, and contaminated soils were removed at specific locations at the Presidio of San Francisco, California. . . . Archaeological construction monitoring and post-tank removal inspections were conducted at fourteen tank removal [sic] located in archaeologically sensitive areas. Pursuant to OSHA Regulation 29 CRF 1910.120, all field personnel working at the tank removal locations during construction activity had completed current hazardous waste operations and emergency response training certification. During the course of construction monitoring behind Building 12, a stone feature and related clay tile and ceramic artifacts were identified. Subsequent excavation revealed that the stone feature was a typical Spanish Colonial-period wall/foundation. The results of excavations to assess this archaeological site are forthcoming. Woodward-Clyde Consultants 1994:1.1–1.2 June 3, 1993, was unseasonably cold, even for San Francisco’s infamous fogbanked summer weather. All day, the coastal winds had whipped rain through my “waterproof” jacket, and I was chilled to the bone. When I arrived at the site of the last tank removal operation for the day, I was already anticipating a return to dry clothes and a warm o‹ce. It was only 1:30 p.m., and if everything went quickly, I could still get some work done on an overdue report. So when I inspected the pit in the backyard of O‹cers’ Quarters 12, I was momentarily inclined to dismiss the stones that appeared incongruously in the pit’s wall. But I had monitored sewer line replacements and tank removals in this area for months, and until now I had never seen any stones of this type or size in the natural soil. Furthermore, the stones were clustered tightly together; they 117 FROM ARTIFACTS TO ETHNOGENESIS 5 were mirrored on the opposite side of the pit by a similar cluster. Both groupings of stone were flanked by fragments of soft, rust-red curved ceramic called tejas, or roof tile. Archaeological monitoring is one of the most humble activities of the discipline , and one of the most emotionally exacting. You watch construction crews go about their business, doing your best to observe their excavations while avoiding close encounters with heavy equipment. On most days, the work is excruciatingly boring. Then, in the moment when something unusual appears, you are faced with split-second decisions. Is it “something”? Should you halt construction immediately or wait and see? The situation is compounded by the ever-present awareness that unwarranted delays in construction can result in enormous costs and loss of good faith. Consequently, archaeological discoveries that occur in construction settings are more often moments of great anxiety than moments of exhilaration. June 3, 1993, was no exception. I pulled myself out of the pit and phoned Vance Benté, director of the cultural resources division in the environmental engineering firm where we both worked. I had found “something,” I told him, maybe something Spanish-colonial because of the tile fragments, maybe a wall, certainly an alignment of rocks. It’s raining, he reminded me; was I sure? No, I admitted, I wasn’t sure. Vance instructed me to go back and “make sure,” and then call him again. I spent another half hour in the muddy pit, scraping down the sidewalls with my trowel and detailing the exposed stones. I uncovered several more pieces of roof tile and some fragments of tableware ceramic called majolica and also started to notice diªerences in soil color and composition that suggested some sort of historical trench cut. I called Vance again: I could not dismiss the unusual clusters of stones and the artifacts associated with them, and I could only hope that I was not triggering a false alarm. While Vance alerted agency archaeologists , I informed the tank removal contractor that they would not be able to return to the job site that day. Then I waited. One by one, that afternoon they arrived: Vance, Army Corps archaeologist Sannie Osborn, and National Park Service archaeologist Leo Barker, all of them specialists in the archaeology of colonial-era California. My anxieties quickly vanished as they talked excitedly to one another. We had discovered the archaeological site of El Presidio de San Francisco. For decades, no one had been sure whether archaeological remains of the Presidio existed. The land once occupied by the Spanish...

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