The morning call., 1894-10-17
THE MOUNDS OF ALAMEDA.

The paper which was read on Monday
by Mr.. Theodore Ii. Hittell before the
Academy of Sciences on the kitchen mid
dens in Alameda County increases our
knowledge of those interesting historical
remains. The existence of the middens
was known long ago. They were noticed
by the padres in the last century. But
thus far they have furnished little mate
rial for the areheOlogist. They are simply
mounds consisting of oyster shells mingled
With a few clam shels-the refuse of the
meals on which ihe aboriginal Indians
lived. They are, in faer, reproductions OF
the Danish shell heaps which have been so
often described. and of the mounds which
have been examined on the shores Of the
Andaman Islands.
The mound which Mr.. Hittell studied
was on the estate of the late Peder Sather,
in the town of Alameda, about half
mile west of San Leandro Bay and about
a mile southeast Of the extremity of the
estuary OF San Antonio. In constructing
a street railroad cut seven feet deep
and about twenty feet wide was made
through it. II is in this cut the shells
were found-in fact the mound was ex-
clusively composed of them. They Demon
strate, Of course, that the Indians who
lived on that part of the coast lived mainly
on shellfsh, and that they were in the
habit of throwing the shells into a heap
when they had finished the meal.
But few other facts. of which we are
not yet in position to estimate the posi-
bic importance. are also demonstrated by
Mr.. HittelPs explorations. In the first
place the shell which is the maiu constitu-
ent of the mound is that of the common
California oyster (Ostrea lurida), but it is
much larger than the same oyster of the
present day. Precisely the same observa-
ton has been made on the oysters in the
Danish shell mounds; the shells are larger
than are found in that part of the Baltic at
present. The query is suggested, Has the
shellfsh deteriOrated in size since the
mounds were heaped mp?
Again, in the Danish mounds the oyster
shells are mingled with the bones of the
bull, beaver. great aux and seal, while no
such bones have been found in the mounds
of Alameda County; and no stone axes
have been dug out of the latter, though
they were abundant in the Danish mounds
and are found in the prehistoric mounds
of the central portions of this country. 1t
cannot be said that the Alameda Indians
were unaequainted with the art of work
ing in stone, for stone medicine-tu bes,
followed throughout like a whistle or
bio wpipe, are not infreauent. These dis
crepancies naturally suggest variety of
hypothesis. 1t seems very curious that
race which was capable of making a hoi-
low tube of stone should n OF have fashioned
stone axes to cut down the live oaks which
daH han fhau no
been n need of wood for many purposes,
especially as the cognate races on the other
side of the mountains made excellent axes
which did good work in wOodcraft.
Here questions of chronology arise
Major Powell in paper published four or
five years ago suggested that the civiiza-
tion-such as il was-of the Indians of
Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin did not ante
date the arrival of white men on this con-
tinent by a long period. He seemed to
think that the elaborate mounds which
have been so carefully studied might
not be older than the fifteenth or, at any
rate, the fourteenth century. Scientific
men on this coast are disposed to allow
our Indians a still smaller claim to an
| tiquity. Professor Davidson has been
heard 10 say that we have no Indian relics
| older than the eighteenth or the seven
.eenth century. But if they were so very
recent-people Of yesterday, so to speak
how came 1t that they have no stone axes ?
Here we enter the domain of ancient
| geogra raphy. California is probably the
youngest Of the States, as her geological
| formation ana the incomplete work of
| creation in the Colorado desert demon
strale. This peninsula on which we live
is modern improvement. Not very long
ago the surf of the Pacific broke on the
shore of Alameda. Did the shell mounds
date from the period when the present
State of California was slowly taking
| shape under the influence of lateral pres
sure, decaying igneous force and the in
satiats voracity of the seaP This is a
problem which students of archaeology