Speakers of Ohlone dialects occupied the lands encompassed by Alameda, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and San Francisco Counties. One Ohlone triblet, the Carquin, occupied lands on the north shore of the Carquinez Strait in Solano County and probably in the southern part of Napa County.
Briggs Creek below Alma College25 bedrock mortars, 8 cupules/anvilsElevation 795 ft.In Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.Acess currently requires a permit. See Bear Creek Redwoods permits for details.Joel’s research led us out here, but we were darn lucky to find this cool site.Looking down at the site.Getting closer to the main kitchen rock.This is one […]
Jeff’s PestlesOne bedrock mortar and five pestles near a spring northeast of Mission Peak.Elevation 1714 ft.Another one of Jeff’s amazing finds. Please do not remove any of these pestles. Leave them for others to enjoy.Pestles come in various shapes and sizes. Not all are flattened or tapered cylinders.Looking out over the nearby spring toward Mt. […]
Rockwall to Campsite8 bedrock mortars and grinding slick.What’s the function of this wall? A section line? Not likely. Why is it aligned with a Yrgin camp and a spring?Another view of the wall.Photograph by Bob BardellTake time to find all the mortars here and enjoy the ambience of this site. It’s cool in the summer, […]
Upper Welch Creek Road5 bedrock mortars and 15 cupules, three on a secondary rock.Elevation 2180 ft.Thanks to Bill and Lou for turning us on to this site.The headwaters of Indian Joe Creek rise right across the road.This is one of our few drive up (or pedal up) sites.A closer look at some of the cupules […]
Circle of Circles1 bedrock mortar and 8 rock circlesElevation 618 ft.Thanks to our master site-finder for directing us here.We believe this is a likely ceremonial site. Archaeological evidence suggests it is 6,000 years old.The Circle of Circles occupies the top of this small hill.Photograph by Bob Bardell.One of the circles.Another circle.The bedrock mortar.Photograph by Bob […]
Minnis Ranch Rock14 bedrock mortars on a workstation rock behind Minnis Ranch in Ed Levin Park.Elevation 778 ft.We’d seen a photograph of this rock in an article, but it took Jeff’s efforts to find the thing.The rock.Note the variety in the shapes of the mortar mouths. If you visit this site, please do not remove […]
Southern Rocky Ridge14 bedrock mortars and a rock wall at the top of Crow Creek.Like the Rocky Ridge site, this one is near a probable tribelet boundary.A single track path passes through a rock alignment on the way to this site.
Windmill Overlook, Upper2 bedrock mortarsElevation 1475 ft.There are fantastic views from this site.One of the mortar rocks caps the rock ledge above the Lower Windmill Overlook site.The other mortar rock at this site.Photographs by Bob Bardell.
Alameda/Calaveras Creek confluence3 bedrock mortarsGood luck finding these, folks. We had to be led to this site by someone who knew exactly where the mortars were. On a revisit, even with the GPS, we couldn’t find them all. Siltation may have claimed the “lost” mortars.
Garin, single mortar1 bedrock mortar next to the trail under a tree.Was this little camp a traveler’s rest stop?Bob’s right hand just about spans the mortar’s mouth.One should secure permission before visiting this site.
