The buried remains of hundreds of mission-era people were discovered at the Santa Ines Mission grounds on June 1 after a visit from an Institute for Canine Forensics team.
The effort to search the grounds for previously unknown remains was spearheaded by mission archivist Sheila Benedict, who made an educated guess that there were people buried outside the mission’s cemetery walls.
After reviewing the mission’s burial records, which date back to its establishment in 1804, Benedict counted roughly 1,995 names that were not marked in the cemetery there. After a grant application she submitted received approval, Benedict organized the visit from the institute’s team that specializes in aged human remains.
“Their dogs do strictly old remains, they don’t do search and rescue, and they went through the cemetery,” she said. “It’s no surprise to me that they found remains there, and I asked them if they could check on the other side of wall.”
That’s when the canine investigators sniffed out a much larger burial site, Benedict said. Another fact-finding mission happened the next week, when Archaeo-Physics visited the mission with ground-penetrating radar.
The mission is still waiting on the radar reports, Benedict said, but along with the burial records, it may be possible to get a general idea of who is buried there based on the records and past investigations. She cited a previous ground-penetrating radar report completed nearby on mission grounds that revealed the footprints of some buildings—a barracks for Spanish soldiers and some Chumash living quarters.
But according to the books, most of the people buried there are probably Chumash, she said.
“It could be mixed-in Chumash with some Spanish soldiers. We don’t know exactly who’s in there, we may never know,” she said.
Benedict said that she alerted the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians’ tribal council about the ground-penetrating radar team’s visit, and Chumash staff and elders attended the search. Moving forward with investigating, moving, or marking the remains would be done with consideration for the wishes of the Chumash, she said.
Kenneth Kahn, the tribal chairman for the Chumash, told the Sun that he appreciated “the great working relationship” the tribe and the mission have currently. He explained that the Chumash’s Tribal Elders Council is mostly concerned with protecting the newly confirmed burial site.
“We’ve always understood that thousands of our people are on site there resting, and we want to make sure that we respect that and that any perimeters are respected as well,” Kahn said. “We know that a lot of activities take place on the mission grounds, and we want to make sure that there aren’t any activities happening on top of the grave sites.”
Benedict said that the results from the radar report will be made available to the Chumash immediately. The grant funding for the canine and radar investigations came mostly from the California Missions Foundation and some from the Native Daughters of the Golden West, she added.
“I’m delighted that I got the grant to do this because it confirms what the books say, about just how many people we have buried out there,” she said.
This article appears in Jun 15-22, 2017.
Hello. This is Lars Ole Mortensen. I would like to bring attention to the following matter:
The Santa Inez Mission lands (large field) beyond the North wall facing Mission Drive and the road into the historic mission should be protected and not walked on ever. This is a burial site and no more events should be performed on this sanctified site please. Each year you have gatherings, powwows, gem shows and fairs as well as circuses and the Ranch Visitadores events/concerts on this field. Imagine the 2,000 native baptized Chumash Indians and Spanish soldiers who lay for hundreds of years under the soil. This is a burial site that our Santa Inez Mission padres baptized and prepared for burial. Even J. Serra was present during many of the events in the early founding and building of the Santa Inez Mission there in Santa Ynez Valley California. The discovery which took place in 2017 did not even give much concern to the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians. Please protect this site and label the site as the mass burial of 2000 individuals for respect. I would like to set up a petition to the Roman Catholic Church to show support as well. Thank you to email your thoughts and comments. Sincerely Yours Lars Ole Mortensen The Danish Journalist (Co) copyright 2023 daneosodane@yahoo.com