A forensic archaeologist has affirmatively identified the partial skeleton found in Montecito on May 24 to be that of a man who was Native American. After coroner's detectives determined the bones were not recent, they removed them to their offices, where Dr. Rick Snow examined them on June 3. He also visited the site on the 800 block of Riven Rock Road where the bones had been found two to three feet underground during what is now described as "digging a trench for a residential construction project" by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.
Snow was unable to determine the individual's age at the time of death, and he visited the site, where work had stopped, to ensure more remains and artifacts were not in situ. It is as yet unknown if authorities are attempting to put a date on the remains, but the bones were described as so old as to be brittle and breaking. The teeth were worn, and the skeleton was incomplete, fragmented, with most hand and foot bones missing.
The coroner intends to release the remains to the Native American Heritage Commission, which will designate the tribe to whom the remains most likely are related. Historically, the Montecito area was populated by people who spoke the Barbareño Chumash language, said John Johnson, curator of anthropology at the Natural History Museum. He noted the Chumash coastal town of Shalawa was sometimes translated as "Montecito" in the mission records, a word that means "small grove" in Spanish.