Volvon Village on Mallory Creek 715 bedrock mortars and countless housepits spread over a half mile. Cupule rock. This village, located in the highlands of the Black Hills, must have been one of the largest settlements in the prehistoric Bay Area, yet it was, apparently, unknown to early archaeologists and historians. It does not appear […]
Lower Volvon Village200 bedrock mortars and a 32 cupule rock. A second cupule rock also at the site. Numerous housepits.Elevation 1445 ft.This is one of the largest collections of bedrock mortars in California, and it is only about a mile and a half away from the main Volvon Village.The Lower Village sits on the side […]
Round Valley Village317+ bedrock mortars, two cupule rocks, and a stacked rock enclosure.CA-CCO-320This settlement is the largest of three that sit along the eastern base of the Black Hills.Joseph Chartkoff in “A Rock Feature Complex from Northwestern California,” American Antiquity, Vol. 48, No. 4, (Oct., 1983), pp. 745-760, notes the similarity between this stacked-rock enclosure […]
Canyon Trail Park Petroglyph Boulder20+ bedrock mortars and 175+ cupules on one chlorite blueschist boulder.Elevation 141 ft.CA-CCO-152This rock is in Canyon Trail Park on a branch of Baxter Creek. Baxter Creek flows into the Bay near Stege, a long-vanished neighborhood on the old shoreline of San Francisco Bay, northwest of Albany hill. Some of the […]
Lynch Canyon Village51 bedrock mortars and 5 cupules/anvilsElevation 451 ft.This village is adjacent to the South Fork of Lynch Creek.Exploring the site.Examining one of the mortar rocks.The flat slab holds 31 bedrock mortars, although about half that number are covered by vegetation in this photograph.Photograph by Bob Bardell.Lynch Canyon Open Space is now open to […]
Silva/Kellogg Lower1 bowl mortar, 1 broken mortar, 3 starters/cupules.Elevation 531 ft.This site may be inundated when the enlarged Los Vaqueros reservoir reaches its highest water level.Bob measures the bowl mortar.We believe the trinomial for this site is CA-CCO-452.
Chinese Tree of Heaven18 bedrock mortars (including 5 bowl mortars), 3 metates, 2 cupules, incised rocks, rock rectangles, rock walls, and rock-lined pathwaysThe Chinese Tree of Heaven tree (Ailanthus altissima) was introduced to California by the Chinese during the Gold Rush. The presence of this tree along with the dry-laid masonry skill apparent in a […]
Mallory Creek Village.45 bedrock mortars in a small village on a shelf above Mallory Creek.18 cupules at one bedrock mortar station.Elevation 655 ft.This is a beautiful site in a secluded glade.Look for the old Indian trail leading to sites further up Mallory Creek.Bob stands in a possible housepit.How much dirt has washed down on this […]
Stone Corral33 bedrock mortars, prayer circle, 2 sets of double cupules, rock wall alignments, and hunting blinds.Elevation 1800 ft.What kind of animals would be constrained by this corral? We believe the stone corral was the site of Indian games and/or ceremonies. HIke up the ridge to the west and find the spot where you have […]
Diablo Grande Cave1 bedrock mortar and a 28 cupule slab8 bedrock mortars in a cave with (obscure) hematite pictographsElevation 1179 ft.Jim photographs the cupule rock. The cupules are hard to make out, so look carefully. That’s the cave (or rock shelter) with bedrock mortars in the background.
