Albany Hill4 bedrock mortars and rich midden on the northeast side of Albany Hill near Cerrito Creek.Elevation 24 ft.There was an Ohlone settlement here. In addition to the shell middens at this site (Nelson’s 1909 map shows four), there were two on Point Isabel, which was once just offshore of Albany Hill.One of Nelson’s four […]
Whittell Marsh ShellmoundNear the tip of Point Pinole.Elevation 7 ft.N. C. Nelson counted 425 shellmounds in his seminal article “Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Region,” University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 7, No. 4, Putnam and Kroeber editors, The University Press, 1909. Very few can be seen today. This is […]
Alvarado Park2 bedrock mortars, 275+ cupules, 2 PCNs, and midden behind gazebo.This chlorite blueschist outcropping on Wildcat Creek has more cupules on it than any other we know of in the Bay Area. Was it just the blueschist found here and on Baxter Creek that attracted cuple-makers, or was something else at work?Jim and Heather […]
Buckeye Canyon MoundShellmound in a beautiful canyon settingElevation 242 ft.Thanks to midden man for directing us here.The map accompanying N. C. Nelson’s Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Region showed six shellmounds clustered along the south shore of the now-filled Brisbane lagoon. Undoubtedly this was one of them.Looking out over the mound. We estimate its […]
Canada del Cierbo28 bedrock mortars, cupules/anvils, and middenLess than 1/2 mile from Interstate 80 off Cummings SkywayElevation 208 ft.Thanks to Joel for leading us here.Archaeological analysis of this site recovered charcoal and bone more than 4,000 years old. Midden at this site may be from N. C. Nelsons Crockett Mound (No. 254).The expedition heads toward […]
Duncan’s Point CaveRockshelters and extensive midden deposits.Elevation 98 ft.CA-SON-348/HJoel led us out here on a North Coast expedition. This is one of the oldest archaeological sites on the California coast. Charcoal and marine shell radiocarbon dates indicate this site was more-or-less continuously occupied for the last 9,000 years.Duncan’s point was a territorial boundary marker between […]
El Sobrante La HondaMidden and probable village site.Elevation 134 ft.Joel strikes again.The house probably sits on top of a village site, perhaps one those along San Pablo Creek marked on Sherburne Cook’s map of East Bay Indian villages.Midden soil.
El Sobrante LibraryVillage site and shellmoundElevation 95 ft.Another one of Joel’s discoveries.The library was constructed right on top of a major village site, but you’d never know it.Midden soil.
Glen Cove Park, aka Sogorea Te3,500 year old village site, shell midden, and burial ground.20+ bedrock mortars visible at low tide on wave-cut benchs.Elevation 10 ft.Thanks to Joel for leading us here.Inhabitants of this village crossed the Carquinez Strait in tule balsas to greet the Fages expedition in 1772. Fages noted in his diary that […]
Goat Rock Beach middenElevation 23 ft.Joel, who we now call “midden man,” led us here on a tour of his recent North Bay discoveries. Shell and bone fragments litter this mound of dark sandy soil. This is not a natural deposit.When we visited this site in December of 2011 a sand bar blocked the mouth […]
