A solitary human skull discovered 40 years ago in a downtown Los Angeles excavation trench is at the heart of a debate about the proposed site of a new Roman Catholic cathedral.
However, no one seems to know the whereabouts of this bone of contention. The search is continuing for the cranium, which apparently came from the skeleton of a California Indian who lived possibly more than 1,000 years ago.
"It is somewhere between anger and heartbreaking that this thing is missing, that this skull disappeared and nobody knows where it is," said Sharon Cotrell, a researcher for the Gabrieleno/Tongva Tribal Council.
The Native American group believes the skull may be evidence of an ancient cemetery beneath what is now parking lot pavement at Hill and Temple streets, where work on the new cathedral is expected to begin in the spring. Their protests have led to city-imposed requirements for more archeological exploration than was originally planned on that hillside near the Hollywood Freeway. If historically significant items are found, the cathedral project could face lengthy delays or need a revised design.
On the other hand, some prominent archeologists, including the only one known to have examined the skull, think it was accidentally moved to that property in the early 1950s in landfill that was used to close off an old trolley tunnel and that it is unlikely any ancient graveyard will be uncovered.
If the skull is found, both sides want it examined using some of the scientific methods that were unavailable back in 1957. They hope to discover clues about its history, and perhaps about the land. Then, they agree, it should be buried with dignity and dispatch.
All that recently created a sticky political situation for the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, which reviewed the environmental impact report for the planned $50-million Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
The CRA was under intense pressure from City Hall and the archdiocese to speed the cathedral project along, to meet Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's target dedication date of September 2000. Church officials say that critical time had already been consumed by legal battles between the archdiocese and the preservationists who stopped demolition of the current St. Vibiana's cathedral, a few blocks away. Yet the CRA did not want to appear indifferent to a minority group or trigger a lawsuit from Native Americans.
