Leveling of mound in 1924

He also excavated three large trenches in the base of the mound after that top part had been hauled away. Like Uhle, Schenck also observed layers in the mound, but he disagreed with Uhle about changes over time. He believed that the ways people lived stayed the same for many hundreds of years. 

Archaeologists returned to the mound in 1999 to conduct more investigations. 

Findings from 1999 investigations

By that time, only the base of the mound was left partially intact underground -- about 8 feet (2.5 meters) of midden deposit, that mainly represented the earliest 1000 years of occupation at the site. The part of the deposit that could tell about later times at the site had already been destroyed, back in 1924.

At the same time, archaeologists discovered another smaller mound nearby, which was occupied 400 to 600 years ago.

What did archaeologists do at the Emeryville Shellmound site in 1999? 
Many people get involved in an archaeological excavation, or "dig". A crew of 20 archaeologists, a backhoe operator, three Native American observers, and many specialist scientists participated in the 1999 project.

Some of the archaeological crew at work

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Specialist scientists participated in the 1999 project

Archaeologists had many questions about how people lived at the Emeryville Shellmound and what they did there; what was important to their way of life; how their ways of life changed over time; and what the environment of the Bay Area was like at the time the shellmound was occupied. To gather information to help find answers to these questions, the archaeologists dug very carefully by hand and passed all of the soil through fine-mesh screens so that artifacts and samples of shell and bone could be collected. Ohlone (descendants of the people who lived at the site) observed the dig and recommended how human burials found in the site should be treated. Scientists and engineers also were needed, at the dig, to deal with hazardous materials left in the ground by the factories that had been located on the site. 

In addition to hand excavation, archaeologists directed a backhoe, which dug trenches across the site. 

Trenches

These cuts across the site helped expose soil layers, which helped archaeologists understand how the site had built up over time. 

archaeologists washing dirt through screens to recover artifacts

During the excavation of the Emeryville Shellmound in 1999, over 2500 artifacts and samples were collected. In addition to artifacts (tools and ornaments), archaeologists also collected samples of the shells, animal bones, seeds, charcoal from fires, and soil from the site. Each artifact and sample was described, cataloged and labeled so archaeologists would know exactly where in the mound it came from, how it had been collected, and what it was. 

What did archaeologists learn about Shellmound Park in 1999?  
In addition to the prehistoric Native American deposit, the archaeological investigation also uncovered artifacts from Shellmound Park, an amusement park that had been built on the mound site in 1876. Most of what is known about Shellmound Park comes from historic documents. 

Shellmound Park

Because we have historic maps and records, we do not need to rely on archaeology alone to find out about the park. We know that Shellmound Park included picnic grounds, shooting galleries on piers extending into the bay, a racetrack, several bars and dance pavilions, a photography booth, and a carousel. People took ferries and a train to get to the site, where large group picnics and shooting competitions were held.  

All the park buildings were demolished in 1924. However, in 1999, archaeologists discovered a buried trash dump that contained many bottles and other artifacts thrown away at the park. There were many gun shells in the dump, from target rifles used in the shooting galleries. Many different kinds of bottles and glasses also were found. These showed that visitors to the park drank beer and other alcoholic beverages, soda water, ginger ale, and tea or coffee. Etched on some of the glass mugs were the words "Stolen from Shellmound Park". These artifacts help us to imagine what it might have been like to spend a day at Shellmound Park.

How did archaeologists study the material they collected? 
After the excavation, archaeologists and other scientists studied the finds for many months. Artifacts were drawn, photographed, measured, and carefully described by specialists who looked for  evidence of how they had been manufactured and used. A historian studied the Shellmound Park bottles, to determine where and when they had been made. Many special studies were made of the prehistoric artifacts and samples. For examples, one lab analyzed samples of soil, to determine what minerals it contained, and whether it had been brought to the mound by people, or transported by wind and water. Other labs looked at pieces of obsidian from the site to determine how long ago they had been worked, and where they had come from. Charcoal was sent out for radiocarbon dating, to learn about the age of the site. Zooarchaeologists -- specialists in identifying mammal, fish and bird bone -- examined thousands of pieces of bone to determine what animals the people of Emeryville used for food and tools, the habitats where animals were hunted, and how they were butchered. Paleobotanists studied seeds and other plant parts from soils and campfires to provide information about the plants that were present prehistorically in the site area, or were used for food.  Most important, after all the analyses were complete, archaeologists and other scientists prepared reports to share their results with other scientists and with members of the public.

What kinds of Native American artifacts did the archaeologists find?
Over 1800 artifacts were found in the Emeryville site in 1999. These included tools and ornaments of bone, ground or chipped stone, and shell. Although materials like wood, leather and plant fibers certainly were used at the site, these materials rot away in the ground, and seldom are found in archaeological sites. Usually, it is only the more durable materials that remain to be studied by archaeologists. Studies of the artifacts provided much information about how the native people lived and worked.

Bone tools were the most common artifacts found at the site. Archaeologists identified bone awls, needles, harpoon parts, whistles, beads and pendants.

     
Bone tools: bone needle & bone whistle

Many bone artifacts are highly polished.  They became smooth and shiny, either as part of their finishing, or through use. A few were decorated with fine incised geometric patterns. A bone tool specialist determined which animals the bone tools were made from and how the tools were made. Many bone tools from the Emeryville Shellmound were made from deer metapodials, one of the lower front leg bones. Also common were the wing bones of large birds. 

A chipped stone tool specialist looked at the many projectile points (arrowheads) and other tools that were excavated from the site. Many of the chipped stone tools found at Emeryville were made of obsidian, a volcanic glass. Obsidian is not present naturally in the Bay Area. Much of the obsidian found at Emeryville came from Napa, over 40 miles away. People in Emeryville probably traded with other groups to get obsidian to make tools. Other stone tools were made from chert, a rock that probably could be collected from Temescal Creek. Early on, people at the site used large spear points to hunt. Much later, they used bows and arrows, which use much smaller stone points. The two examples of projectile points, shown below,  were made by the earliest and latest inhabitants of the Emeryville Shellmound. Other cutting tools also were made of obsidian or chert. 

     
Projectile Points: Chert Point and Obsidian point.

Archaeologists also found mortars, pestles, "charmstones" and stone pendants. These types of artifacts are classified as groundstone because they are made by grinding one stone against another. Some of the groundstone implements like the charmstones are very finely shaped, while others are not much more than stream cobbles that have been used for pounding. Mortars (stone bowls) and pestles (pounding or grinding stones) were used to grind grass seeds, acorns and buckeye nuts into flour, and probably to grind other foods as well. 

"Charmstone"	Mortar

The Emeryville people collected and traded shells with other groups to use for making beads and pendants. These ornaments must have been valuable to the native people, as they were not easy to obtain or make. Most of the shell beads and ornaments excavated in 1999 were found in graves. 

Beads were made from the shells of the olive snail (olivella), a small white or tan snail found in the bay and ocean. 

Olivella shell beads.
Spire-looped beads in top two rows

The whole shell could be made into a bead by cutting or grinding off one end. Smaller circular or oval beads also could be cut from the sides of shells, and then perforated (drilled or punched) so they could be strung as necklaces or attached to clothing or other items. 

Abalone shells also were used to make pendants -- ornaments that could be hung around the neck or attached to clothing. 

    

Abalone shell pendants

At Emeryville, only finished ornaments were found: there were no whole or broken abalone shells in the midden, so it is unlikely that the Emeryville people collected abalone as food or that they were able to get whole abalone shells. Archaeologists believe that the people of Emeryville traded with the people who lived on the ocean coast to get abalone ornaments. Abalone ornaments of many different shapes, some with incised lines and dots, were found at Emeryville. Most of these were found in human graves. This tells us that these ornaments were especially valuable to the people, since they apparently did not use them in their everyday lives, but mostly used them to honor their dead. 

How did the Native American people of Emeryville bury their dead? 
We have no way of knowing what kinds of ceremonies the Emeryville people conducted, but we do know that they treated the dead reverently. Usually, when we find a grave in an archaeological site, we find only the skeleton, sometimes with tools and ornaments that were placed in the grave with the individual. At Emeryville, many people were buried with shell ornaments and beads. These probably were strung or sewn onto headdresses or clothing, and were placed on the neck, head and body. Often the body also was covered with a powder or paste of red ochre, a red mineral pigment. The dead person's body was placed in a flexed position, with his knees drawn up to his chest. A pit two or three feet deep was excavated for the grave. We think that a fire sometimes was built in the pit before the person was placed in it. Probably after the fire went out, he or she was placed in the grave, usually face down or on his side, and the grave was filled with soil from the midden. 

There may have been areas of the site that were used as cemeteries during different periods, but burials were present in many areas around the site. Archaeologists in 1999 noted that earlier graves often were disturbed prehistorically by the excavation of later graves. This suggests that most graves were not permanently marked. However, in one case, a group of one adult and several infant graves seems to have been marked by a pile of whalebones.

Was the Emeryville Shellmound a cemetery?
There were many graves in the Emeryville Shellmound. Some archaeologists and Native Americans believe that the site was mainly a special place to bury the dead and hold mourning ceremonies. Others believe that the people buried at Emeryville are the people who lived there, over the long history of the site. It is possible that the way the site was used changed over time. No one can know for sure.

Do archaeologists get to keep what they find?
Archaeologists do not keep what they find. When the analysis is complete and the archaeologist has tried to answer his or her own research questions about the site, archaeologists take archaeological collection to be stored in a museum or other special facilities. This is a way of making sure that the collection and information will be available for other researchers to study in the future. For most archaeologists, what is important is "not what we find, but what we find out". 

In respect for the wishes of Ohlone descendants, human remains and the artifacts found with them at Emeryville were not placed in a museum, but were reburied in the ground, in a place where they would be safe from disturbance in the future. 

Where happens to the artifacts and samples after they have been studied? 
After analysis was completed, the artifacts and samples were taken to the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Museum of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley for permanent curation. There they will be carefully stored and preserved so that they can be studied by other archaeologists. There is always more to learn. Replicas of some of the artifacts will be displayed at the Community Room at the Bay Street Center in Emeryville.  

Human skeletons that would have been destroyed by the cleanup or redevelopment of the site were excavated respectfully by archaeologists. Some Ohlone descendants prefer that no archaeological analysis be conducted on human remains or associated artifacts. The Native American observers at Emeryville decided that they did not want scientists to study the skeletons found at Emeryville. However, archaeologists were permitted to make casts--exact copies--of many of the artifacts that were found in graves, so that these could be studied. Human remains and associated artifacts were then reburied in a place that would be safe from future disturbance.

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