SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Recent Mission Find Called Significant

Archeologists are calling the recent discovery of buried wall foundations just outside the entrance of Mission San Juan Capistrano further evidence of the potential historical significance of the city’s entire downtown area.

“Just because the buildings are there at the mission and downtown doesn’t mean there is nothing underneath them,” said John Foster of Greenwood & Associates Inc., the city’s archeological consultants.

Electrical workers were digging up Camino Capistrano to install a new power source to the 214-year-old mission May 16 when they came across a mixture of adobe, large chunks of sandstone and river rocks known to be the raw materials of early foundation work. Foster and his partner, Roberta Greenwood, were called in to inspect the findings, as was Nick Magalousis, the mission’s museum director.

“The foundations are consistent with our findings that old Spanish barracks usually had a perimeter wall as an extra defensive fortification,” Foster said. “The other section, which runs parallel to the existing outside wall, could be either a garden wall or a corral.” After recording the find and its location, workers re-covered the area, Foster said.