In this paper we have focused on the northern Santa Lucia Range, where archaeological surveys and excavations, completed during the last decade, provide on-the-ground validation of settlements and cultural features suggested in the Harrington notes and records.

Rivers and Jones (1993) reported the locations of 21 place names in the upper San Antonio Valley and adjacent coast of Monterey County, California, that were noted by Salinan speakers in John Peabody Harrington's field notes from 1922 to 1932. Surface reconnaissance and review of recently completed archaeological survey reports have led to the identification of 11 additional Salinan places in the upper San Antonio Valley and refinement in the location of three others. Archaeological sites in the vicinity of named places tentatively suggest that Salinan settlements are marked by clusters of small middens and bedrock mortars.