Genga,alternative spellingGengaaandKengaa,[1][2]was aTongvaandAcjachemenvillage located on Newport Mesa overlooking theSanta Ana Riverin theNewport BeachandCosta Mesa, Californiaarea which included an open site now referred to asBanning Ranch.[3][4][5]Archaeological evidence dates the village at over 9,000 years old.[6][7]Villagers were recorded asGebitinSpanish Missionrecords.[8]The village may have been occupied as late as 1829 or 1830.[1]
An attempt in 2001 to preserve a nearby 9,000 year old village site from commercial development failed. A similar attempt to save a burial site of Genga in the 2010s also failed.[7][6]This has initiated concerns over preservation in the area. A large part of the contemporary site of Genga situated in Banning Ranch may be transformed into a public open space as of 2022. The Tongva and Acjachemen support having a voice in the process.[3]
History
editIndigenous
editGenga was in close proximity and had influence overNewport Bay,as reflected in the bay's original name given by the SpanishBolsa de Gengar.The village's influence may have extended up to the northernSan Joaquin Hills.[9]One estimate placed the village population at around 100–150 at the time of contact. The village was multiethnic and multilingual, being shared by the Tongva and Acjachemen.[9]
Archaeological evidence dates the village to be at least 9,000 years old.[6]As a coastal village, the usage ofte'aatsmay have been important to the village's people.[10][11]It is also likely that, similar to the nearby village ofLupukngna,villagers primarily subsisted on acorns, seeds, berries, small game, fish and shellfish. Shell mounds were a part of village life.[12][13]Cog stones have been found in the village area as well.[6]
Spanish mission period
edit
After the arrival of theSpanish colonizers,villagers were baptized atSan GabrielandSan Juan Capistranomissions and had marriage ties with villagers fromHutuknga,Puvunga,and settlements around San Juan Capistrano.[9]TheDiego Sepúlveda Adobewas built overlookingLupukngnaand Genga from between 1817 and 1823[15][14]as an outpost "to watch over cattle and Indians." In 1827, missionaries considered whether to move their entire operation to the location.[16]
Like many surrounding Tongva and Acjachemen villages, the village declined with the growth of the missions, where Indigenous labor was exploited to construct mission facilities and tend to the mission's grounds. By the early nineteenth century, the village was being depleted and may have been occupied until 1829 or 1830.[17]Yet, the place name carried forward in the nineteenth century, with the bay being labeled thebolsa de gengara,an alternative spelling of the village, on an 1853 map.[17]
Preservation attempts
editHuman remains from the village were uncovered in the 2010s. Although Tongva and Acjachemen people campaigned to stop the development of a site where six hundred of their ancestors' remains were found, their attempt failed.[18]The remains were moved from the original burial site, which now sits under a parking lot next to a bank, to a dirt lot about a half-mile away.[7]Lack offederal recognitionof the Tongva and Acjachemen prevents them from controlling their ancestral remains and artifacts.[19][20]
In 2013, the city ofCosta Mesamay have approved plans to construct over a site near the village location in nearby Fairview Park, despite archaeologists and Indigenous people speaking against further development in the area given the significance of the site, as well as its listing on theNational Register of Historic Placessince 1972.[21]There were further concerns that the archaeological survey was being conducted by the Scientific Resource Surveys, Inc. (SRS), which has a poor track record in the area for preservingTongvavillage sites, being fined $600,000 for digging trenches into a 9,000 year old village site inBolsa Chicain 2001.[6]
Banning Ranch, part of the site of Genga, which had been a large coastal oil field since 1943, may be transformed into a public open space as of 2022 after many years of organizing to preserve the site both asgreen spacefor the city as well as for historic preservation.[3][22]City leaders of the project have said that "tribal descendants of the area’s earliest residents will also have a voice" in how the park is developed.[23]
See also
editAchachemenvillages inOrange County, California
Tongvavillages in Orange County, California
References
edit- ^ab"Southern California Indian Curriculum Guide"(PDF).The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art.2002.
- ^Hernandez, Kelly Lytle (2017).City of inmates: conquest, rebellion, and the rise of human caging in Los Angeles, 1771-1965.Chapel Hill. p. 18.ISBN978-1-4696-3119-6.OCLC974947592.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^abcHicks, Angelina (2022-06-14)."Banning Ranch is One Step Closer to Becoming Preserved Open Space".Voice of OC.Retrieved2022-12-06.
- ^"Randall Preserve - Our Work in CA".Trust for Public Land.Retrieved2022-12-14.
- ^Greene, Sean; Curwen, Thomas (9 May 2019)."Mapping the Tongva villages of L.A.'s past".latimes.Retrieved2022-12-07.
- ^abcde"Survey of park to determine burial-ground limits".Orange County Register.2013-10-09.Retrieved2022-12-21.
- ^abcLoewe, Ronald (2016).Of sacred lands and strip malls: the battle for Puvungna.Lanham, MD. p. 138.ISBN978-0-7591-2162-1.OCLC950751182.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^Martínez, Roberta H.(2009).Latinos in Pasadena.Charleston, SC: Arcadia. p. 10.ISBN978-0-7385-6955-0.OCLC402526696.
- ^abcKoerper, Henry; Mason, Roger; Peterson, Mark (2002).Catalysts to complexity: late Holocene societies of the California coast.Jon Erlandson, Terry L. Jones, Jeanne E. Arnold, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. p. 64.ISBN978-1-938770-67-8.OCLC745176510.
- ^L. Frank (2007).First families: a photographic history of California Indians.Kim Hogeland. Berkeley, Calif.: Heyday Books. p. 108.ISBN978-1-59714-013-3.OCLC76901815.
- ^Allan Sekula; Jack (John Kuo Wei) Tchen (2004). "Interview with Allan Sekula: Los Angeles, California, October 26, 2002".International Labor and Working-Class History(66): 162.ISSN0147-5479.JSTOR27672963.
- ^Early Costa Mesa.Costa Mesa Historical Society. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub. 2009. p. 7.ISBN978-0-7385-6976-5.OCLC276818569.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: others (link) - ^California Coastal Commission (1987).California coastal resource guide.Madge Caughman, Joanne S. Ginsberg (1st ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 320.ISBN0-520-06186-1.OCLC16005763.
- ^ab"Indian Villages".OC Historyland.Retrieved2022-12-14.
- ^Orton; Marsh (1997).The Colorful Coast: An Illustrated History of Newport Beach & Harbor.Heritage Media Corporation. p. 27.
- ^Mitchell, Patrick (2006).Santa Ana River Guide.Larry B. Van Dyke, Eva Dienel (1st ed.). Birmingham, Alabama. p. 219.ISBN978-0-89997-616-7.OCLC909903029.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ab"Southern California Indian Curriculum Guide"(PDF).The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art:18. 2002.
- ^Welsh, Terry (2015-12-16)."Welsh: Coastal Commission Banning Ranch Hearings in January Need to Hear from OC".Voice of OC.Retrieved2022-12-06.
- ^"Tongva Nation Continues Fighting for Federal Recognition – Pasadena Now".pasadenanow.Retrieved2022-12-21.
- ^Reynolds, Jerry."Pending recognition decision for Juaneno stirs waters in Washington lobbying pool".Ict News.Retrieved2022-12-21.
- ^"Archaeologists say Fairview Park work might hurt site".Orange County Register.2013-09-29.Retrieved2022-12-21.
- ^"History – BRC".Retrieved2022-12-14.
- ^"Purchase of Banning Ranch for preserved natural space is fully funded".Orange County Register.2022-05-26.Retrieved2022-12-11.