FOUNDING VCAS

1972- – A group of practicing archaeologists and local avocationalists got together to create the Ventura County Archaeological Society (VCAS). The goal: to establish an entity that could act as an assembling point for the review of Environmental Impact Reports, as well as the collection and care for data and artifacts originating within the boundaries of Ventura County. In Part one of the initial tasks was to house collections which had been made by the then disbanded Archaeological Survey Association (ASA) and which had been placed in the care of Robert O. Browne, who was a local avocationalist. These collections became the foundation of the Society’s curation activities and also prompted the Society to begin to collect all published materials on Ventura County archaeology.

Today the VCAS maintains a 425 publication non-circulating (local access only) library collection on chumash and general archaeology. It is available to researchers by appointment. Also we have Recorded Site collections organized and inventoried by Site Record number. We organize the Site data, field notes and final reports of excavated locations, as well as Environmental Impact Reports/cultural Statements organized by USGS Topographical Quadrangle.

MISSION STATEMENT

Our current Mission Statement is “To preserve and protect the prehistory and history of Ventura County, California for current citizens and for the future”.

VISION STATEMENT

Our region contains many historical areas due to the fact that we were visited by the early Spanish colonists; as well we have had Native American populations in our region for at least 9,000 years per the most recent research!

Since 1972, the VCAS has provided our County with preservation services for the historic and pre-historic artifacts of Ventura. We have hosted community programs, monthly speeches on archaeological and historical topics, and we maintain regular programs that teach local students from Middle school through Post-graduate about our local history. The public is welcome to our programs.

We work on collections at our Collections site located on the grounds of the Chumash Interpretive Center. They are located on Lang Ranch Parkway Road in Thousand Oaks, Ca. An artifact that we have loaned out includes a prehistoric abalone ‘cache’ which contained an item of jewelry made from abalone! Learn from the amazing artisans of the past by viewing these collections

Some of the California’s evidence of early peoples living here in our region has been curated and collected by our Society. We aim to protect these artifacts and our local history but we cannot achieve our goals alone. Find out how you can help

CONTINUING OUR HERITAGE BY MAINTAINING IT

We conserve artifacts from Ventura County through preservation, documentation and research.

Learn about arrow head points or shell beads that were created by people in prehistory and used as money- people who came before us left evidence of their lifestyles and we can teach you about this!We conserve artifacts from Ventura County through preservation, documentation and research.

Images are provided by members of VCAS and Administration.