Malibu Farpoint Site Listed in State Register of Historic Resources

• Propertyowner’s Opposition Keeps It Off Prestigious National List of Historic Places

BY ANNE SOBLE

An elated Gary Stickel, the chief archaeologist for the Farpoint Site on Point Dume, reports that it was recently determined to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
As a result of this eligibility, California State Historic Preservation Officer Milford Wayne Donaldson said the property has been listed in the California Register of Historical Resources.
Donaldson pointed out in a letter to Stickel that “no restrictions [are] placed upon a private property owner with regard to normal use, maintenance or sale of a property determined eligible for the National Register.”
However, Stickel told the Malibu Surfside News that the site’s owner “adamantly opposes” the national registration. The owner’s approval is part of the registration process for the prestigious list.
Stickel says the owner, citing privacy, which is why her name is not published, has also prevented additional excavation on the periphery of the site where an authenticated Clovis cultural era spear point was found in 2005 that could date back as much as 11,000 years.
However, others in the vicinity have indicated their interest in having archaeological exploration for artifacts on their parcels.
The archaeologist said possible finds would enhance the pool of cultural resources, and emphasizes the ability of these resources to provide potential answers to some of the many questions that exist about prehistoric North American migration and habitation.
Being debated in this context is whether there is sufficient data to support the “European origins” theory for the beginning of Clovis culture in the New World, as opposed to the traditional theory of cultural development, which holds that the first Clovis people were ancestors of Native Americans who came from Siberia across the Bering land bridge into Alaska and then inhabited North America.
Stickel indicates he is reserving judgment until more evidence is available, including any from the Farpoint Site, and that is why he says he is lobbying for assistance from government entities and private organizations to try to protect the property.
Stickel also emphasizes that sites such as Farpoint and other locations on the Point may offer data on the Chumash Native American people who occupied the area for thousands of years. The Chumash are Malibu’s first recorded residents.
He also sees a need to do more work at the site because the Clovis Point was haphazardly unearthed by a backhoe. Stickel has indicated that as new archaeological techniques are developed, there will be more ways to study artifacts with less disruption.
He has said, “Farpoint has been suffering destruction in the forms of many long trenches, pits and excavations for a reflecting pool, all of which were unnecessary as there were other options to provide those facilities for the new mansion complex, and all of that destruction was done without any archaeology on those affected areas.”
As part of his full court press for the site, Stickel contends, “It is a sad fact that our laws, not just in the City of Malibu where the site is located, but in general, are not strong enough to protect and allow us to conserve such a unique, highly significant site, one that may well yield critically needed information on how our continent was first inhabited.”
Anyone seeking more information about Farpoint can contact Stickel at 323-937-6997 or e-mail him at dregarystickel@netzero.net.