WHERE PREHISTORIC MAN FILED HIGH ACCUMULATIONS OF SHELLS AND BONĖS
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| EMERYVILLE SHELLMOUND AS SEEN FROM THE BAY. THE CUT MADE IN THE SIDE OF THE MOUND HAD BEEN FILLED WHEN THE PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN, BUT SITE OF EXCAVATION IS SEEN IN THE LIGHT AREA ON THE WESTERN SLOPE |
Emeryville Shellmound Aboriginal Crematory in Stone Age
BERKELEY, July 27. One of the most interesting works among the many publications issued by the University of California dealing with American Archaeology and Ethnology, is the one recently off the University Press, "The Emeryville Shellmound" by Dr. Max Uhle. In this work Dr. Uhle tells of the excavations conducted by Professor John C. Merriam and the writer in the spring of 1902.
In the introduction we are told that California has but few characteristic archaeological remains such as are found in the mounds of the Mississippi valley or the ancient pueblos and cliff-dweller ruins of the South. In the Shellmounds along this section of the Pacific Coast it possesses, however, valuable relics of a very ancient date. These are almost the only witnesses of a primitive stage of culture which once obtained among the early inhabitants of this region.
In making investigations the largest and best preserved mound was selected, and this is the one at Emeryville. It forms a conspicuous feature of the recreation grounds known as Shellmound Park.
WHAT FAGES FOUND.
Fages, the first traveler who passed through the country, from south to north, traveled along the eastern shore of the Bay of San Francisco in 1774, and came upon Indian settlements where he found a friendly welcome. His account of this expedition, however, falls to throw any light upon the question whether or not the shellmounds were still occupied at that time. The neighboring creek bears the name of "Temescal" from the region between Berkeley and Oakland through which it passes. This name appears to be a mutilation of the Nahua word "temazcalli" hothouse, the name of sweat-houses in Mexico, and the place may have been so named by Mexicans living on the bay, from an Indian sweat-house standing there. Hence it may be assumed that an Indian settlement was in existence on the banks of this creek at a time from which the name could pass over into the existing vocabulary.
Other evidences of early Indian settlements in this section of the eastern shore country of the Bay are the shellmounds, twelve of which may be found along the coast between Point Richmond and Alameda in a stretch of twelve miles. They may be seen near Point Richmond, upon the eastern side, facing the peninsula, upon Brooks Island, near Ellis Landing, northeast from Stege upon a marshy ground intersected by narrow channels, near Seaver's Ranch to the west from Stege, on Point Isabel, in West Berkeley, in Emeryville, and in the eastern section of Alameda between Mound, Central, and Lincoln avenues. There is also said to have been one in East Oakland on the canal between Oakland Harbor and Lake Merritt, but it has disappeared owing to building over that section of ground. In all probability many, others have met with a similar fate.
All these evidences, of an early occupation of the country are but a few of the mounds that skirt the bay upon all sides, continuing along Suisin Bay and the Sacramento and Feather rivers.
The work of exploration was commenced by Professor Merriam and Dr. Uhle in February, 1902, and was finished early in May, Captain Siebe, the proprietor of Shellmound park, gave all possible assistance in the investigations and the western slope of the mound, facing the bay, was selected as the starting point for the operations. The entire work of excavation may, in a chronological order, be divided into four stages: First, Lateral cutting in the mound; second, tunnel construction; third, the upper vertical cut of the entire mound; fourth, a series of pits dug from the foot of the tunnel out to the bay shore.
NEAR BAY AND CREEK.
The mound consists mainly of a mass of broken or entire shells, ashes, bits of charcoal, and some artifacts. This mass extends far above the surface of the surrounding land and ends two and a half feet below the level of the ground water and two feet below the general tide level of the bay, and rests immediately upon a sharply defined yellowish alluvial clay stratum. There is no indication of a rocky elevation which might have served as an inducement for the original settlement, and would have helped to raise the mound to its present height. Some of the charcoal and small boulders brought here by man rest upon the clay soil. A slight discoloration of the upper line of the clay stratum may have been caused by a transitory plant growth during some early period, while there is no indication of a crust of good soil which would be a sign of a longer period of vegetable growth upon it.
From what is known of the situation it is obvious that the mound was founded upon firm though still somewhat marshy land, near the bay shore and close to the creek. The latter was the occasion of its location at this place. The ground must have been dry, since a gently rising slope was selected. The soil was alluvial and relatively new, since it has no overlying cover of good earth, yet it must have been dry long enough to allow a thin growth of vegetation to cover it, causing the slight gray discoloration of this stratum.
The principal constituents of the mound are the shells. These have nearly all crumbled into small fragments and are slightly mixed with soll, which when damp gives the entire mass the appearance of pure soll. When this is flooded with water the washing away of the land produces no noticeable change in Its volume. This mass has mingled with it bits of charcoal, bones of animals, ashes or cinders, and stones averaging about the size of one's fist and blackened by fire. Marks of stratification may be traced through almost the entire mound.
In some shellmounds in other regions strata or earth and sand were found between the shell layers. These give evidence of a temporary evacuation of the shellmound. No evidence of this character was obtained in the study of the Emeryville mound, where the only occurrence of a natural vegetable soil is the surface cover of one or two inches in thickness, which has formed slight differences in the state of preservation of the shell deposits which now mark the strata lines may have been caused by differences in the length of time of occupation. Other explanations might, however, be offered.
CONSTITUENTS OF MOUND.
Shells - The shell layers of the mound are composed principally of oysters, mussel and clam shells, though many other kinds of shells were found scattered through the mound. All of these were used as food by occupants of the mound. Bones of vertebrates were also found in most of the shellmounds. These, together with the shells, represent the debris of their kitchens. No other shellmound has been seen where so large a quantity of bones was observed as in that at Emeryville. Bones of land and sea mammals, of birds, and of fishes, were found in abundance throughout the mound, and fairly evenly distributed in the strata. This fact is the more remarkable since the shellmound at West Berkeley, scarcely two miles distant, does not yield nearly such quantities of bone as this one. The occupants of the mound at Emeryville at all periods were huntsmen to a great degree, besides being fishermen; those of the mound at West Berkeley seem to have depended largely upon fishing: hence the stone sinkers were far more numerous in that mound than at Emeryville.
So far the fauna of only the lowest strata up to three above the base have been studied. The following species obtained in this horizon were determined by Dr. W. J. Sinclair: Deer, elk, sea-otter, beaver, squirrel, rabbit, gopher, raccoon, wild cat, wolf, bear, dog, seal, sea-lion, whale, porpoise, canvasback duck, goose, cormorant, turtle, skates, thornbacks and other fish.
No traces of cannibalism have been detected. Most of the hollow bones of larger mammals, and even the smaller bones of the foot, were found to have been split to get at the marrow.
Fireplaces were generally known by beds several feet in length consisting of charcoal and yellowish ashes. They occurred in many spots throughout the mound. Numberless scattered bits of charcoal and pebbles, mostly about the size of one's fist and blackened by fire, were further evidences of the continuous use of fire in the preparation of food.
SKELETONS ARE FOUND.
Ten graves containing skeletons were found, but were only in the middle layers of the mound. The two lowest layers and five upper ones contained no evidence of interment, indicating that the custom of burial beneath the dwelling places was observed in one period only. Cremation probably followed in later periods, as a large number of calcined bone objects were found.
The shellmounds of the environs of San Francisco bay are almost the only witnesses of a practically unknown period in the early history of this region. They appear to us at first investigation unintelligible, both as regards beginning and the end of the period in which they served as human abodes. For a solution of the problem the most diverse kinds of investigations must be carried on before the principal facts of this history can be brought out.
Shellmounds can be found along almost all parts of the inhabited coast. In California as well as in other parts of the world they originate by the accumulation of remnants of food, especially the shells of the mollusca, which are used as articles of diet. In the midst of the remnants of food cast aside by him, man clung to his place of abode, raising it more and more above the general level of the ground through the gradual accumulation of these materials. Hence these localities represent, in certain stages of human development, true but nevertheless low types of human dwelling places. The manner of procuring the essentials of lite by collecting shells in itself indicates a low form of human existence. In all parts of the world, even today, people may be seen on the shore at low water gathering for food the shells uncovered by the retreating tide; and although under changed conditions of life they raise no shellmounds, these people always belong to the lower classes of society, and lead in this manner a primitive as well as a simple life. Peoples depending for food upon collecting shells are usually not agriculturists, but fishermen, and perhaps hunters as a secondary occupation. Their implements are of the rudest kind, made of bone, stone, wood and the like. Industries of a more highly developed kind, the dressing of ore and working it up into various implements, remained unknown to them, except in perhaps a few instances.
Thus it seems natural to connect the origin of shellmounds in general with the work of prehistoric generation, i. e., man of the stone age. The only condition necessary for their origin is, that the people who raised them lived somewhat close together and therefore possessed a certain social organization. For only in many centuries or even in tens of centuries could even large groups of men pile up such enormous quantities of kitchen debris into hills which come to form prominent features of the landscape. Though little is definitely known, the beginnings of human social organization evidently reached back into quaternary time, just as is the case with the beginnings of human ornamentation. There is therefore no good reason why the origin of the shellmounds could not date back to quaternary time.
STONE AGE IMPLEMENTS.
In determining the age of the Emeryville Mound we note first the fact that no traces of typical quaternary annals were found in it. Another fact of importance is found in the apparent change of level of the strata upon which the original layers of the mound were placed. As nearly as can be determined the original fundament has sunk at least three feet.
In the lowest stratum of the mound stone implements were found of the well-known palaeolithic turtle-back form. Three other stone instruments and mortars were found, some of which were chipped and polished. A mortar fragment found low down may have originated from an implement which was formed, as is often the case, out of a common boulder. But before it broke from this object the mortar was deeply worn out, just as others have come down to our times. Also, the deep concavity of its rims speaks for long continued wear. The next stratum, two to four feet above the base of the mound, yielded the fragment of a pestle of irregular, not rounded cross-section. Here a common oblong pebble may have been used as a pestle. Besides these, the two lower strata fumished only an oval, flattened pebble, probably used as hammer, the only one of its kind in the whole mound.
These four stone implements represent the only specimens of the two lowest strata of the mound which are not chipped. A little above these an excellent polished tool was found. This is the only one of such workmanship before the fourth stratum upwards. Therefore it is by no means impossible that rubbed or polished stone implements, excepting mortars and pestles, were unknown at the time of the origin of the lower strata, and that their use was rather limited in the succeeding strata. But the presence of mortar fragments and pestles in the lowest strata points toward a higher development of the human type than is usually expected of men who use flaked tools only.
It will have become evident from the foregoing remarks that the general zoological, geological, and anthropological facts which are available for fixing the age of the mound offer only indefinite evidence uncertain even for an approximate dating of the time of the mound's beginning. They do not preclude the possibility of an age numbering many centuries; neither do they prove it.
THOUSAND YEARS OLD.
There can be no doubt that the hill-like camp places of the Indians in the interior of the country represented a local variation of the shellmounds along the shore. The form and structure of these camping places resemble the shellmounds of the coast. The material differs in part, since the inhabitants of the inland had fewer shells at their disposal. These camping places were inhabited by the Indians quite recently, or are even now inhabited. The time when the shellmounds of the bay shore were vacated by their owners was therefore probably not very long ago. With this view coincides the fact that in the upper strata of the shellmound burial is represented by cremation; a form of burial observed up to the most recent times among the Indians of California. The white immigrants settled first on the seacoast, and it is therefore natural that the aborigines retreated earlier from their shellmounds than their brethren in the interior did from their camp places.
Thus, while the history of the shellmounds of this region probably reaches back more than a thousand years into the past, it must have extended almost to the threshold of modern times. The fact that their roots reached far back into the prehistoric period of California does not prevent our seeing the tops developing almost to the present day.
If we attribute to the shellmound an age representing many centuries, cultural differences should be indicated in the successive strata. For it is impossible that the culture state of one and the same place should have remained stationary for many centuries and, even judging by the mass alone, the mound could not have reached such a height in less than a considerable number of centuries. In attempting to discover possible cultural differences we unfortunately meet with several difficulties. The action of the climate has destroyed in all the strata the objects which consisted of perishable materials. Only the more resistant things remained. But the perishable materials are frequently those in which the decorative sense of man expresses itself most easily, and in which cultural differences are most distinctly shown. A further unfortunate circumstance arises from the general trend to simplicity and primitiveness of the tools of the inhabitants of all shellmounds. So that the visible cultural differences which would generally appear with a people of changing forms of life are imperfectly expressed. Finally, many objects give only partial evidence as regards form and use, for they were often mutilated previous to their deposition in the strata.
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