Site of Shell Mound, Emeryville CA
Posted by: 
WalruZ
N 37° 50.073 W 122° 17.560
10S E 562241 N 4187693
The site of a huge shell mound near San Francisco Bay, dating back to 800 BC
Waymark Code: WMDV5
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 05/29/2006
Views: 107
It is said that the Indians who came to this site camped just above the shoreline. The shells they threw aside from their catches of shellfish eventually covered some hundreds of thousands of square feet, marked by several cones. When the University of California excavated this site in the 1920s, they found that the mound consisted mostly of clam, mussel, and oyster shells, with a plentiful mixture of cockleshells.
'Mound' at Shell Mound Park.
What little that was left of the shellmounds was fouled by toxics during this area's industrial period and completely excavated. A corner of the site contains a charming park that commemorates the 2,200 years that Ohlone peoples spent here at the mouth of Temescal Creek.
Stone archways welcome you to a walkway flanked with informational pillars...
A 'basket' litters the mound. Eel grass grows near the channelled creek, just before it enters the bay...
Shells are embedded in the very rock, just as shells were once piled up by the millions nearby.
What they found here...
There is no plaque.