Featured: Current Archaeology Book of the Year 2019!

Current Archaeology Book of the Year 2019!

Random Image

Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic, Edmonds, Bender

Ancestral Geographies of the Neolithic, Edmonds, Bender

Who's Online

There are currently, 356 guests and 1 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Our Photo Pages >> Emeryville Shellmound - Artificial Mound in United States in The West

Submitted by symbionspacesuit on Sunday, 14 March 2010  Page Views: 18121

Pre-ColumbianSite Name: Emeryville Shellmound Alternative Name: shellmound ALA 309
Country: United States
NOTE: This site is 14.133 km away from the location you searched for.

Region: The West Type: Artificial Mound
Nearest Town: Oakland  Nearest Village: Emeryville
Latitude: 37.835637N  Longitude: 122.293828W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
Destroyed Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

Internal Links:
External Links:

I have visited· I would like to visit

Rileyy visited - their rating: Cond: -1 Amb: 4 Access: 5

Emeryville Shellmound
Emeryville Shellmound submitted by symbionspacesuit : shellmound street (Vote or comment on this photo)
Emeryville Shellmound is a former artificial mound Alameda County. Shell Mounds are burial mounds like their earthen counterpart (with the exception of the crushed shells of shell fish) are built with similar materials of earth, ash, and gravel. Shell mounds are found along the coastal islands, bays, and river mouths around the whole world from New Zealand, Australia, China, Denmark, Brazil, the Caribbean islands to British Columbia and the lower fourty eight west coast States.

There were many shell mounds in the other California bays but the largest network of Moundbuilder culture in western North America existed along the greater San Francisco bay, San Joaquin, and Sacramento waterways. The shoreline of the bay from Richmond to Oakland had several Mound Clusters as well as the three largest mounds in the bay(Emeryville shellmound ALA 309, West Berkeley shell mound ALA 307, and Ellis Landing CCO 295). Emeryville shellmound (ALA 309) in Muwekma Ohlone country, was the largest of all the west coast mounds. Shellmound (ALA 309) was a truncated cone mound originally 40 to more than 50 feet high (varying by source) and 270 to 350 feet in diameter. The base of shellmound (ALA 309) sat within 130 ft of the original waterfront of Emeryville and 200 ft north of Temescal Creek.

From 1906 to 1909 Nels Christian Nelson walked some 3,000 miles throughout his survey of the shell mounds of the Greater San Francsico Bay area. Numbering each mound by county Nelson took record of 426 sites of shell mound clusters along the waterways of the Ohlone and Miwok.

Emeryville shellmound (ALA 309) held more than 700 human burials one of which prove to be the earliest cranial surgery (300 to 500A.D.) in the western states. Shellmound (ALA 309) near the mouth of Temescal Creek and West Berkeley shellmound (ALA 307) at the mouth of Strawberry Creek two mile north, also had a large number of California condor burials.

Shell Mound Park (115 acre) was open from 1876-1924. In March fo 1877 the park opened with a octagonal dance pavilion on top of shellmound ALA 309. The mound (ALA 309) had been topped and leveled for the foundation of the pavilion to the height of 32 feet. The pavilion was 90 feet in diameter and 40 feet high combined with the remaining 32 feet of prehistory, this 72 ft. focal point of the park was still the tallest man made structuce on the bay at the turn of the 20th century. Shellmound ALA 309 was the center mound of the several smaller shell mounds which made up the Temescal Creek Mound Cluster. The burials an their artifacts of a smaller mound were uncovered in 1896 during the grading for Shell Mound Park's new racetrack. While the park was growing to its height some the mounds of this cluster as well as mounds esle where along the bay were being destroyed by natural causes due to a 10-25 cm global rise in sea levels over 100 year period. Eroding into the bay with the tide at the time of Nels Nelsons survey of the mounds (1906-1909) there was little left to signify a mound other than the exposed human remains and burial artifacts on the muddy surface of the marshland along the waterfront. A waterfront which was possibly much lower than current bay/sea levels when these mounds were built.

Shell Mound Park lasted a few years after prohibition started but eventually closed down in 1924, at which point the park and the mound where leveled to make way for a paint factory which leaked heavy metals into the bay for more than 70 years. The preparations in the late 1990s to clean up this now toxic site reopened the archaeological research on Shellmound(ALA 309).

Today the site of ALA 309 sits under the Bay Street shoping center in Emeryville,CA. More than two hundred feet south of the Shellmound site at the inersection of Shellmound St. and Ohlone Way there is a small park dedicated to the mound and the Ohlone people. In the park there is a ten foot high replica of a shellmound built directly over Temescal Creek and along the wall of the shoping center to the south of the park is a metal arch sugesting the profile of Shellmound (ALA 309). Near the park below the IMAX theature displayed in the hallway to the restrooms are obsidian, stone, and abalone artifacts from Shellmound (ALA 309).

Little is known among the non indian public about this colossal shellmound. There is no museum dedicated to vast Moundbuilder culture of central California or the rest of the west coast. The local library offers little more than the 100 year old works of N.C.Neslson, M. Uhle, and E.W. Gifford. In spite of the loss of such a great American landmark, to the urban onlooker reverent of the thousands of years of rich cultural history, this ancient metropolitan bay becomes an enchanting place to be.

Note: The location given is for the location of the destroyed mound. The nearby park with the "replica" and profile can be found here.
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


Emeryville Shellmound
Emeryville Shellmound submitted by symbionspacesuit : charm stones in the front left corner (Vote or comment on this photo)

Emeryville Shellmound
Emeryville Shellmound submitted by symbionspacesuit : artifacts of ALA 309 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Emeryville Shellmound
Emeryville Shellmound submitted by symbionspacesuit : Temescal Creek (Vote or comment on this photo)

Emeryville Shellmound
Emeryville Shellmound submitted by symbionspacesuit : Destruction of the mound in 1924 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Emeryville Shellmound
Emeryville Shellmound submitted by symbionspacesuit : Shellmound park of today (Vote or comment on this photo)

Emeryville Shellmound
Emeryville Shellmound submitted by symbionspacesuit : mission depictions of the Ohlone in the waiting line to the restroom

Emeryville Shellmound
Emeryville Shellmound submitted by symbionspacesuit : Shellmound park

Emeryville Shellmound
Emeryville Shellmound submitted by symbionspacesuit : 1924

Emeryville Shellmound
Emeryville Shellmound submitted by symbionspacesuit : Emeryville Shellmound from the bay

Emeryville Shellmound
Emeryville Shellmound submitted by symbionspacesuit : entrance to shellmound park with the mound and pavilion behind it .

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive map of the area

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 3.7km N 349° West Berkeley Shell Mound* Artificial Mound
 19.1km WNW 296° Ring Mountain Carving
 36.1km SSE 149° Coyote Hills Shellmound ALA 329* Artificial Mound
 63.6km SW 232° East Bay Walls* Stone Row / Alignment
 85.3km NW 308° Bodega Head Shellmound* Artificial Mound
 85.7km NW 309° Bodega Harbor Shellmound* Artificial Mound
 90.7km SSE 164° Scotts Valley City Hall Artifact Display* Museum
 93.6km NW 312° Duncans Landing Rockshelter* Cave or Rock Shelter
 94.0km NNW 340° Knight's valley stone Rock Art
 95.8km S 173° Sand Hill Bluff Shellmound* Artificial Mound
 105.0km SSE 147° Chitactac-Adams Heritage County Park* Ancient Village or Settlement
 122.9km SSE 158° Moss Landing Shellmound* Artificial Mound
 128.3km NNW 331° Cloverdale Stone Rock Art
 135.7km NE 42° Maidu Indian Interpretive Center* Ancient Village or Settlement
 141.1km SSE 165° Monterey Indian Stone* Rock Art
 202.0km ENE 68° Miwok Salt Basins Ancient Mine, Quarry or other Industry
 207.7km NW 321° Van Damme State Park Shellmounds* Artificial Mound
 280.9km ENE 70° Pillars (Nevada)* Cairn
 301.9km SSE 154° Morro Creek* Ancient Village or Settlement
 308.7km SSE 154° Los Osos Back Bay* Ancient Village or Settlement
 346.3km E 98° Bishop Eastern Sierra Petroglyphs* Rock Art
 362.2km ENE 60° Grimes Point Arch. Area* Cave or Rock Shelter
 364.1km NE 44° Winnemucca Lake Petroglyphs* Rock Art
 368.3km NNW 335° Indian Island Shellmounds* Artificial Mound
 369.9km SE 143° Painted Rock, Carrizo Plain* Rock Art
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< Coyote Hills Shellmound ALA 329

Wasbister Cairn >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Stone Circles CD-ROM now £10+p&p

Stone Circles CD-ROM now £10+p&p

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Emeryville Shellmound" | Login/Create an Account | 0 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.