The Archeology of Somewhere: Archeological Testing Along U.S. Highway 395 Manzanar National Historic Site, California

The National Park Service conducted archeological investigations at 23 sites, features, and loci along U.S. Highway 395 within and around the Manzanar National Historic Site in Inyo County, California. Caltrans has proposed upgrading the current two-lane highway in the vicinity of the
National Historic Site to a four-lane divided highway. The archaeological work was deemed necessary to determine the research potential of the cultural resources and to make recommendations about how the
resources should be managed. Archaeological field work included mapping, artifact inventory and collection, and subsurface testing. Most the investigated sites are associated with the town of Manzanar
and date to between 1910 and the early 1930s. Two of the sites have earlier historical components and three have prehistoric components. Six are associated with the World War II Manzanar Relocation Center
and nine are more recent (post 1945). Most of the Relocation Center features in the project area are significant, three of the town-era sites are significant for their information potential, and the one single-component
prehistoric site tested may be significant, depending upon whether there are substantial subsurface cultural deposits in addition to those found during these investigations. All of the significant or potentially significant sites or features are located west of the existing highway and would not be
physically affected by the proposed highway widening. However, the highway itself is part of the historic Relocation Center-era landscape. It is recommended that its two-lane character be retained as a frontage
road, and that the new divided highway be located to the east.