• Home
  • About
  • Email List
  • Past Speakers
  • SFNHS Coordinator
  • Upcoming Speakers

SF Natural History Series

A lecture series exploring nature in the San Francisco Bay Area

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Next Lecture – Oct 17th: Bird Feathers and Bird Bones
Next Lecture – Nov 21st: World of the California Newt »

More Than Just a Mound of Shells

October 1, 2013 by Adrian Cotter

Perry Matlock joined us on Sep 19th to talk about Ancient Monuments and Funerary Places in the San Francisco Bay.

When the word “shellmound” comes to mind, the first picture in your head is probably that of a garbage pile, a midden heap, a pile of refuse, or dinner table scraps – a big pile of empty discarded shells. This is the remnants of the dismissive thoughts of the archeologists who first looked at them.

There are other things in the shellmounds: fish remains, bones & scales, charcoal residue, which might add to that picture. But the significant find is that the mounds often contain human remains. With that simple fact, we might thing of them quite differently not as a pile but a place – burial mounds, sacred places, akin to hallowed places round the world: the geomorphs, mounds, earthworks, and stones that are quite often protected and preserved with maps and guidebooks pointing them out.

Now the numerous shellsmounds that could once be found all over the Bay Area (425 according to one 1909 map) are almost all gone. Some of the mounds, like the one in present day Emeryville were huge, thousands of years old – likely landmarks. Most of them have now been destroyed dug up, bulldozed, sometimes dynamited used for roads or tennis courts, garden beds, or just to get them out of the way.

It was only with the dismantling of the Emeryville shellmound that the issue of the dead came to the forefront. Local Native Americans and allies did their best to bring the issue to the forefront. They lost that particular battle (Emeryville has a little homage to the mound, which can’t really in any way make up for it) but it brought together the right people to start saving those mounds that were still left.

There is still some mystery as to what larger purpose these mounds had, how exactly they were used and played a part in everyday life. One interesting note is that Coastal languages done’t have a word for shellmound — or possibly just not telling it to anyone. Whatever we know or don’t know the local tribes consider these places sacred — which really should be enough.

If you are interested in learning more one place to check out is the Oakland Museum of California – their new exhibit on the Bay (Above and Below) has a section on Ohlone life prior to the Spanish.

I will add links to additional resources and books that Perry mentioned in his talk to the website. Perry was not speaking as a representative of any tribe, but only for himself having been involved and volunteering on these issues for many many years.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Lecture Notes | Tagged burial, Ohlone, shellmounds |

  • SFNHS

    Our lecture series explores all aspects of nature in the Bay Area, and seeks to understand our impact both past and present on those natural systems, and their impact on us.
  • Find Us Elsewhere

    • Facebook
    • Google+
    • Twitter
  • Local Science & History

    • Ask a Scientist SF
    • California Center for Natural History
    • California Naturalist Program
    • Friends of Five Creeks
    • Nature in the City
    • Shaping SF
    • The Long Now Seminars
    • Think Walks
    • Urban Adventures for Kids
  • Our Hosts

    • Exploratorium Bay Observatory Gallery
    • Green Apple Books
    • Rotary Nature Center
    • SF Public Library
    • The Randall Museum
  • Science in Other Cities

    • Bay to Beach Life
    • NYC Wildlife
  • Speaker

    • Cartographer's Notebook
    • Keith Hansen
    • Marin Carbon Project
    • Nowtopians
  • SF Naturalist

    • RT @Sierra_Jobs: Are you interested in developing web applications, and shaping technical solutions for complex use cases at a mission-cent… 6 months ago
    • @Longreads @jkehe @WIRED This does just essentially seem like a reboot of intelligent design. Why is it easier to b… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 11 months ago
    • My couple minutes of Corvid fame on @kalw's @CrosscurrentsFM this week -- shoutout to friends who clued me in to th… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 year ago
  • Archives

    • July 2018
    • January 2017
    • June 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • October 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • March 2009

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • SF Natural History Series
    • Join 35 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • SF Natural History Series
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: