BERKELEY SCIENTISTS DELVING INTO THE PAST
File Report of Investigation in Earth Mounds at Emeryville
TEN GRAVES FOUND
Light Is Thrown on Life of Indians During the Early Days
BERKELEY, July 6. - The curtain that hides the past of those Indian tribes which once lived on the shores of San Francisco bay is lifted in part by Professor Max Uhle, whose investigations into the mysteries of the earth mounds at Emeryville resulted in the bringing to light of many facts hitherto unknown about these primitive Indians and their ways of living.
The university today issued a bulletin, giving some of the results of Dr. Uhle's and Professor John Merriam's work in the earth mounds. The excavating work was begun in 1902. with funds provided by Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst. The scientists regard the mounds in question as of especial interest because they constitute almost the only witnesses of a primitive culture which obtained among the primeval Indians. Their report in part follows:
The mound, which was probably first observed by the famous traveler Fages in 1774, now forms a conspicuous feature of the recreation grounds known as Shell Mound park, its top being crowned by a wooden pavilion distinctly visible from the windows of the local trains. It was situated originally upon the bank of a little creek known as Temescal, a location chosen by reason of the proximity of fresh water. This mound, like others, was not, as is often erroneously stated, a burial ground, but rather the site for dwelling places or abodes for the living.
The burials made there are explained by the fact that many tribes of a low grade civilization follow the custom of burying their dead underneath their feet in the ground upon which they live in order to protect the graves against disturbance and also to enjoy the protection of the spirits of the dead against their enemies.
Dr. Uhle and Professor Merriam commenced their work with an excavation on the western slope of the mound facing the bay.
Ten graves containing skeletons were found in the process of excavation, showing that during certain periods the custom of burial underneath the dwelling places was observed. A large number of calcined specimens indicates that the inhabitants of this region practiced cremation of their dead, burying all personal belongings with the body. The preparation of the graves was not elaborate. A simple pit sufficed, and if any covering was employed it must have been of perishable materials, for there are now no remnants. For burial the body was entirely covered with red earth which settled upon the bones after decomposition and is still adhering to them in some cases like a thick crust.
The age of the mound is a matter of considerable interest. It is evident that the people living there depended for food upon shells, and in all probability were not agriculturalists but fishermen, with perhaps hunting as a secondary occupation. Their implements were of the rudest kind, and it seems proper to fix their period as roughly that of the stone age. Zoological, geological and anthropological facts do not preclude the possibility of an age numbering many centuries; neither do they prove it. Taking into account other factors it may be stated that so many and so enormous shell mounds must have taken centuries in their construction. Even the complete development of this peculiar mode of existence must have taken centuries. It is therefore possible to assume that the origin of the shell mounds represents a historical development of more than a thousand, possibly many thousand years, they may, however, have continued almost to the threshold of modern times. Various cultural stages are indicated by the contents of the different strata - e. g., kinds of implements, the different forms of burial, etc.
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