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Administrative Draft Environmental Impact Report Gill Medical Center Project 4.7 CULTURAL RESOURCES This section considers and evaluates the potential impacts of the Proposed Project on cultural resources. Cultural resources are defined as pre-contact (prehistoric) and historic sites, buildings, objects, structures, and districts or any other physical evidence associated with human activity considered important to a culture, or a community for scientific, traditional, or religious reasons. This section is based on the Cultural Resources Inventory Report prepared by ECORP Consulting, Inc. (2020).The information provided below is an abridged version of this report and is provided here to afford a brief context of the potential cultural resources in the Project area. Due to the sensitive nature of cultural resources, which is restricted from public distribution by state and federal law, the cultural resources report is not included in the EIR appendices; however, all pertinent information necessary for impact determinations is included in this section. A redacted version of the cultural resources report that does not include site records or locations may be obtained by contacting the County. While much of this section includes Native American pre-contact and historic information, Section 4.18 Tribal Cultural Resources of this document includes further analysis of the ethnography of the Project area. Please refer to Section 4.18 for Tribal Cultural Resources. 4.7.1 Environmental Setting 4.7.1.1 Regional Pre-Contact History It is generally believed that human occupation of California began at least 10,000 years before present (BP).The archaeological record indicates that between approximately 10,000 and 8,000 BP, a predominantly hunting economy existed, characterized by archaeological sites containing numerous projectile points and butchered large animal bones.Although small animal bones and plant grinding tools are rarely found within archaeological sites of this period, small game and floral foods were probably exploited on a limited basis. A lack of deep cultural deposits from this period suggests that groups included only small numbers of individuals who did not often stay in one place for extended periods. Around 8,000 BP, there was a shift in focus from hunting towards a greater reliance on plant resources. This period, which extended until around 5,000 years BP, is sometimes referred to as the Millingstone Horizon.An increase in the size of groups and the stability of settlements is indicated by deep, extensive middens at some sites from this period. In sites dating to after about 5,000 BP, archaeological evidence indicates that reliance on both plant gathering and hunting continued as in the previous period, with more specialized adaptation to particular environments. During this period, new peoples from the Great Basin began entering southern California. These immigrants, who spoke a language of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic stock, seem to have displaced or absorbed the earlier population of Hokan-speaking peoples (ECORP 2020). Biological Resources 4.7-1 October 2021