Category: Shellmounds
-
Save Shellmounds (Not Parking Lots)
Shellmounds are ancient structures created by thousands of years of indigenous occupation. Shellmounds are cemeteries, or mortuary complexes. The final resting places of the first people to live in this place we call the San Francisco Bay Area. There were once over 425 shellmounds in the San Francisco Bay Area alone. In fact, there were…
-
Sogorea Te Land Trust is Not an Ohlone Organization
When you read articles like: “Controversial Berkeley shellmound burial site to be returned to Ohlone“ “Berkeley buys Ohlone shellmound, returns it to Indigenous people“ “City aims to ‘right a historic wrong,’ to return shellmound site to Ohlone people“ You are being misled. Here’s a breakdown of how these articles are misleading, and what the truth…
-
99% of Alameda Museum’s Ohlone Artifacts Were Stolen from Native American Graves
We’ve found a pattern of reckless and careless treatment of 100% of those stolen artifacts. The Alameda Museum has roughly 186 Native American Artifacts. All of those artifacts were found in connection with Native American Graves, except for 2. So, we can’t say ALL of the artifacts are grave goods. But we can say: 99.93%…
-
Alameda Museum Contract Expires
Should the City renew the agreement? On Monday, September 4, 2023, the City of Alameda’s five-year agreement with the Alameda Museum to provide archival storage expired. According to the agreement, the Alameda Museum, as an Independent Contractor, would provide the following: The agreement made it clear the Alameda Museum is a Service Provider; and not…
-
Shellmounds and Their Relationship to the Waterbodies of the San Francisco Bay Basin
In the Indigenous Bay Area, water and life have always gone hand-in-hand. It was impossible to tell where the sea truly ended on this coast. Even inland, the San Francisco Regions’s natural aquatic resources are used with reverence, and traded throughout the region (and beyond.) Salmon connect the sea to the rivers, streams, and lakes…
-
Historic San Francisco Bay Area Shoreline 1851-1887
Recently, I revisited some old map and GIS files in search of the vector file I used to show the historic shoreline of the Bay Area… As I took a closer look at the layers used compose such maps the N.C. Nelson Shellmounds Coastlines: Then vs. Now…. I realized the base map was actually a…
-
Shellmounds: Spanish and American Influence on Indigenous Burial Practices and Shellmound Use
A shellmound is a graveyard, a mortuary complex, an ancient structure. It’s a place where the first peoples who live along the coasts and rivers of California, used to bury their dead. This article briefly explores why that is. Spanish Influence on Indigenous Use of Shellmounds This changed when Spain Conquistador’s invaded the San Francisco…
-
What is Tribal Recognition, Who is a Descendant, How does the NAGPRA Notification List Work?
This article will be a very brief primer, touching on three important topics: What is Tribal Recognition? Federal Recognition When the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Federal Acknowledgment, formally recognizes a group (“tribal entity”) as being a separate sovereign government from the United States. This recognition “establishes” a government-to-government…
-
SF Bay Area Shellmounds Are Some of the Most Endangered Cultural Resources in the World
The San Francisco Bay Area had well over 425 shellmounds. Gabriel Duncan, from the Alameda Native History Project, estimates the true number of shellmounds around the S.F. Bay Area’s shoreline is closer to seven or eight-hundred shellmounds, which existed before European invasion and colonization. Shellmounds are ancient burial grounds used by the First People of…
