Lost Site Found in San Francisco
Based on an article by Cher Peterson, Albion Environmental, Inc., Santa Cruz, CA
In 1912 archeologists from UC Berkeley found, recorded and excavated a major prehistoric village site in San Francisco within the modern Presidio. It was rich with shellfish remains, animal bones, stone tools and shell beads. Then it seems to disappear. Many causes might be responsible. There were major amounts of sandy fill brought in to fill in the wetlands for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) construction. There were multitudes of construction projects associated with the Army’s use of the Presidio throughout the 20th Century. The original records were very sketchy and maps were not that good. Research in the 1970’s seemed to place the site in another area altogether. Where did the site go?
The need to find the site grew out of a proposed Caltrans project to build an expansion of Doyle Drive which is the major approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. A Santa Cruz firm, Albion Environmental, was hired to try to find the site (CA-SFR-6) in order that it might be protected or explored prior to the construction project. Several trenches had already been excavated nearby without success by previous archaeologists. After researching all the past data possible, research by Albion staff narrowed the area to about 150-meter square area.
In November 2001, using a backhoe slicing cross-trenches, Albion staff located anarea of undisturbed midden. The midden lies above underlying sands and appearslargely intact although its size is not yet known. Large quantities of marineshell detritus, fish, marine and land mammal bone, chert and obsidian tools andwaste flakes, shell beads and fire altered rock was among the materialsrecovered. Given the similar faunal remains found in 1912 and based on the mostrecent map research, there seems little doubt that what was found is indeed thesame shell mound, CA-SFR-6. The lost site has been found, and analysis can continue and the protection of this resource can be considered.
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