March 2004 - Society for California Archaeology

26
Articles
already begun with the archaeological investigation and the
prior removal of some of the wall coverings in the east part of
the Mesa Room.
Foundations
To understand the adobe structural system it is necessary
to have the most information possible on the foundation
system. The foundation at the southeast corner of the Mesa
Room is in the process of being excavated on the interior and
the exterior. Figure 1 shows the interior condition.
Figure 1: Detail of the foundation of the south wall at the southeast corner.
A piece of flooring is at the top of the exposed stone foundation.
Figure 2: A line of vertical holes drilled through the exterior hard stucco.
This location is on the north side of the north wall of the Mesa Room.
Discussion
The original intent of Crosby’s site visit was to undertake
only the condition recording phase, which is a non-invasive
part of the documentation of the existing conditions. The
subsequent stage of fabric investigation that will include a
more comprehensive investigation of the building fabric and
system analysis was to have taken place on a subsequent site
visit. However, the condition of the structure with the
principal building fabric and systems covered by stucco
renderings and interior wood siding, paneling and gypsum
board restricted the amount of information available from the
initial non-invasive approach. Consequently, we began the
deconstruction phase and more comprehensive fabric
investigation by drilling holes through the exterior stucco in
several locations. In fact this deconstruction phase had
The coursing of the unshaped rocks is very uneven with
large gaps and without a clear edge line. This character of this
section of the foundation could have resulted from a casual
construction approach. The other possibility, and a more
likely one is that disturbance that may have occurred after the
construction of the feature that altered the original condition.
The excavation has not exposed the actual base, so any
additional analysis at this point is premature. An extension of
the excavation to the west of this area between the adjoining
fireplace and the closed doorway may yield additional
information. A comparison of foundations that had been
previously exposed to the east of this structure, part of which
may be an extension, may also yield important comparable
information. The exterior excavation at the southeast corner
was in an area that had been extensively disturbed previously
and provided no additional information about the corner
condition or evidence of an extension of the south wall
foundation to the east. There is evidence that the present
exterior east wall is an original interior wall, as the south end
of the east wall did not appear to have any foundation stones
with the adobes placed directly on the ground. This east wall
is also approximately two feet thick, another characteristic of
an interior wall. From the standpoint of developing a more
clear understanding of the condition of the building, it will be
important to continue the investigation of the foundations.
Adobe Walls
Although the fabric investigation is in its early stages, it
does appear that the four walls of the Mesa room are adobe
construction. There appears to be one missing section of
adobe in the south wall and there are other sections where the
adobe wall has been altered. The specific extent of these
missing sections and alterations will be identified further in
subsequent work associated with this project. The evidence
of the adobe was available from observations in the attic of
both adobe rooms as well as from the attics of the adjacent
rooms to the south of the Mesa Room.
There are also some missing sections in the adobe walls
of the De Anza Room as well, but the majority of the wall
fabric of all four walls of this room is adobe construction.
The existence of the adobe was also confirmed by drilling
holes through the hard exterior stucco in several locations of
SCA Newsletter 38(1)