Crescent Found Along Highway 1 in Santa Cruz
By Carol Robinson
Caltrans archaeologists, Terry Joslin and Tom Wheeler, were inspecting the edge of the Highway in November of 1999 when they noticed something protruding from the edge of a gully near where Soquel crosses the Highway. Upon closer examination, they realized they had discovered the fragment of a very old and very unusual prehistoric tool called a crescent.
This found crescent was made from Monterey Banded Chert and measured 4.48cm in length, 2.44cm in width, and .64cm in thickness. It is one of only two or three found in Santa Cruz county and among the few found in western North America.
Crescents are recognized by their bilateral symmetry in plan view, an "inner" edge formed by a concave shape with an "outer" margin which is convex in overall outline. It is believed crescents were used to cut or scrape in butchering and hide cleaning. Crescents come from the early Holocene archaeological complexes in the western United States. They are most frequently found in a surface context although the date estimates exceed 6,000 years.
In 1984, a large crescent fragment was found archaeologically as part of the Santa Cruz Archaeological Society "volunteer salvage" at the Scotts Valley City Hall Site. This work involved more than 125 volunteers over a four-day period. More work on this site was done in 1987 by Archaeological Resources Management and a publication was funded by the Society. The analysis and dating from this site was estimated as greater than 7,000 years and perhaps as much as 9,000 years ago.
Further investigations, near where the crescent was recently found, indicate it may have been deposited from a site somewhere upstream. Along with the crescent, historic materials such as amethyst glass, marine shell fragments, earthenware, and wire nails were found. No further prehistoric cultural remains were observed at the find site.
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