Tour the Excavation of the Presidio's Spanish Settlement

Presidio of San Francisco (July 21, 2006) — Cabrillo College archaeology students and their professors will offer public tours on Wednesday, July 26, from 12 pm to 4 pm of the ongoing excavation of a Spanish chapel on the Presidio that was built in 1780 and believed to be one of the first buildings in San Francisco.

The goal of the excavation is to recover additional information about the early history of the Presidio, and to prepare the archaeological sites for long-term, on-going public viewing. The Presidio was originally established by Spain in 1776 as el Presidio de San Francisco, a small military fort at the Golden Gate.

The Presidio Trust is hosting the Cabrillo College archaeology students for a summer field school at the Presidio to follow-up on excavations done in 1996-1999. This summer archaeologists hope to unearth the Chapel’s Presbiterio floor, and to further document the Chapel’s eastern wall foundation.

In addition to the tours on July 26, lectures on Presidio archeology will take place at 7 p.m. in the Presidio Chapel (Bldg. 45) on the following days: Monday, July 24th and Tuesday, July 25th.

Please visit the Presidio website for more information: www.presidio.gov.

For more information regarding the Cabrillo College Archaeology Technology Program, visit: www.cabrillo.edu/academics/archtech/.