Recent News
Archaeology Club Last Field Trip of the Year: The Salinan Echo Rock
May 20, 2025
On May 10, 2025, the Archaeology Club took their third and final field trip of the year to Fort Hunter Liggett and the Los Padres National Forest to see Echo Rock and the San Antonio Mission!! After driving through the scenic landscape, the club stopped at the trailhead for the Echo Rock, an Indigenous place known to the Salinan as the Khoye. The Echo Rock is not known to most people, but luckily Dr. Terry Jones, the club advisor, had a copy of the field notes written by J.P Harrington in the 1930s that described the site and its location. Although Harrington’s writing was hard to decipher, Jones re-located Khoye about 30 years ago, and was able to lead the club back to it where the club tested it out. Hearing the echo reverberate back from the club’s shouting was well worth the hike!! After hiking back to the trailhead, the club took a short lunch break while hearing about the history of the San Antonio mission before driving back to see it. Once there, the club took a walk outside to see the old agricultural sites, as well as the cemetery, both of which still have well preserved adobe walls. Inside of the mission was a recently updated museum that contained lots of information and artifacts pertaining to both the Salinan and the missionaries. Overall, it was a very fun and educational day for the Cal Poly Archaeology Club!! If you are interested in joining in on our next club meeting or field trip, please reach out to our club president, Sophie Fioravanti, at sfiorava@calpoly.edu!!!
Opening of Display by Anthropology-Geography Students May 30, 2025, San Luis Obispo History Center 6:30 pm
May 19, 2025
Archaeology Club Guest Lecture April 17: Dr. Kristina M. Gill
Apr 14, 2025
Archaeology Students Present at Society for California Archaeology Annual Meeting in San Francisco
Apr 14, 2025
Archaeology students Emma Bowman, Jesse Horseley, Lacey May, and Annie Pagel presented a poster at the 2025 Society for California Archaeology Annual Meeting in San Francisco in March. Titled " Investigating the Pre-WWII Yoshida Farmstead Site on the Pecho Coast, San Luis Obispo County, CA," the poster presented preliminary findings from the archaeological investigation of a pre-Incarceration Japanese-American farmstead site located on PGE's Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant property. Materials recovered from the dig which took place last spring with participation of 25 descendants of the original farm family, included beautiful Japanese ceramics, glass bottles, shells and bones from meals, and other items of everyday life, including game pieces, parts of a comb, and a harmonica. These and other artifacts will be put on display at the San Luis Obispo History Center May 30, 2025.
Dr. Nikhil Deb Published an Edited Book - Social Justice in the Global South
Apr 10, 2025
Archaeology Club Winter Quarter Field Trip
Mar 25, 2025
On Friday, March 7th, the Cal Poly Archaeology took their winter quarter field trip to Hearst Castle! Upon arrival, the club was greeted by the museum director, Cara O’Brien, and a museum curator, Jenny Daly. From there, we were able to drive up to the castle while enjoying the beautiful views of San Simeon and the animals that roamed the hillside. It was a gorgeous and sunny day so the scenery was spectacular! Once everyone made it to the top, the club was taken on a behind the scenes tour of the castle. Members were still able to see all of the grand rooms that are included on a typical tour, such as the famous infinity pool and the movie theatre, but were also able to see some of the back rooms, including a hidden terrace that dated to one of the earlier versions of the castle. One of the club favorites was the Roman Pool - with gold laced tiles and changing rooms for all the Hollywood stars that came to visit. Afterwards, members were taken into the museum archives where all of the artifacts are kept, and we were shown original sketches by Julia Morgan, the famous architect that designed the castle, as well as one of the original guest books and even a suitcase for William Hearst’s dog. Overall, the Archaeology Club enjoyed a great day of learning history, museum collections management, and seeing Hearst Castle in all its glory!
February 20th - Archaeology Club Guest Speaker Ryan Phillip
Feb 7, 2025
Social Sciences Career Expo 2025
Jan 10, 2025
2025 SOCS Career Expo will be held on Tuesday 1/14 from 10am to 1pm at the Performing Arts Center Lobby. The Expo offers an exciting opportunity to explore career paths for a variety of social scientists and connect with industry professionals from organizations like Albion Environmental and Upward Bound. We hope you come check out all the wonderful opportunities and also take advantage of a free professional headshot!
Archaeology Club: Fall 2024 Activities
Jan 9, 2025
On Saturday, October 12th, the Cal Poly Archaeology Club took their first field trip of the 2024-25 school year to The Indians archaeological site in the Los Padres National Forest. On the way they stopped at the abandoned Dutton Hotel, an old adobe brick structure that has sadly deteriorated over the years. After driving 30 minutes into the Fort Hunter Liggett Military base, the club stopped at Wagon Cave, a prehistoric campsite that was also used as a stopover in the 19th century by EuroAmericans from the Big Sur coast. One of the guides for the trip, a ranger for the Los Padres National Forest, brought students up in groups of 4 to view the inside the cave. It had bedrock mortars all across its sandstone outcroppings along with a shell midden deposit. Members were able to look for pieces of chipped stone among the mortars and shell debris in and in front of the cave. The cave also had evidence of campfire usage and food storage along with some art which was super cool to see!! The final stop of the field trip was to the Encinales family adobe ranch, known as The Indians where club members enjoyed a picnic lunch on the porch while looking out at the beautiful scenery. Afterwards, a descendant of the Encinales family shared her family’s history with the ranch. The club was the largest group of people they have had at the site in over 20 years! She also allowed everyone to go home with a piece of “Rabbit’s tobacco,” a flower that smells strangely of maple syrup and was often used as an herbal medicine by Salinan people. To finish the day, the club was given a tour of the ranch, paying close attention to the use of adobe brick in the structure. Overall, everyone had a great day learning about and applying their knowledge of archaeology, while also getting a once-in-a lifetime experience to visit a place most people have never been to or heard of!! If you are interested in joining Cal Poly Archeology and going on field trips like this, please message the club president, Sophie Fioravanti, at sfiorava@calpoly.edu.
During the first week of November the Club also had their first social event of the year–a bonfire in the dunes at Grover Beach. Warmth and Good Food were had by ALL!
