FULLERTON : An Uneventful Find, No Bones About It

They came to witness a historic unearthing, perhaps of a sacred burial site, perhaps of an unknown species of prehistoric creature, or possibly even the remains of a victim of foul play.

What they found was a lot of bull. Or at least, a piece of bull. Or maybe it was a cow.

Drawn by the news that the same underground utilities crew that recently discovered the remains of a 500-year-old Indian woman was digging up another burial site, Fullerton police officers, Orange County coroner investigators and television, radio and newspaper reporters flocked to the site of a 4-foot-deep pit Monday only to discover that what were buried were animal bones.

The reporters were thinking an ancient Indian burial ground had been discovered, while the law enforcement officials wanted to make sure the bones were not from a homicide. But when an anthropologist arrived, she immediately declared that the rust-colored leg bones unearthed were from a large animal and not a human.

“I think this might be something like a cow, although I don’t think this is actually a cow,” said Judy Myers Suchey, a forensic anthropologist from Cal State Fullerton who helped with the examination of the Indian woman. “These bones are probably at least 200 years old, but that is just a guess. But just because these were not human bones does not mean the next (discovery) will not be.”

The unearthing was far less dramatic than one 300 feet away two weeks ago, when the crew from Pacific Bell and Fricke Construction Co. dug up the well-preserved bones of a Gabrieleno Indian, who was reburied in a secret sunrise ceremony last week. Monday’s discovery was in a parking lot at 3800 W. Commonwealth Ave., across the street from Fullerton Municipal Airport. The crew was working on a citywide project to put utility lines underground.

Robert Nolasco, Pacific Bell’s supervisor at the dig, said the crew was digging a trench at about 8:15 a.m. Monday when a large bone was discovered and work was halted. He said coming so close to where the Indian had been discovered, his first thought was that his crew had unearthed another.

“Until an archeologist tells us what the bones are, the law says we have to stop,” he said. He said he was glad Monday’s bones were from an animal.

Nolasco said the previous find had shut down his crew’s digging for eight days while Indian groups decided what would be done with the woman’s remains. They were reburied in an Indian ceremony Thursday that the groups carried out in secret, he said. The crew dug around the grave, he said.