1900 4...3 5283 Broadway, Oakland, California 94618 (510) 601-6185 Fax (510) 601-8203...

Exhibit A

ARCHEO-TEC

CONSULTING ARCHAEOLOGISTS

5283 Broadway, Oakland, California 94618 ▪ (510) 601-6185 ▪ Fax (510) 601-8203 ▪ [email protected]

Lauren Seaver

Vice President, Development

BLAKE/GRIGGS PROPERTIES

550 Hartz Avenue, Suite 200

Danville, California 94526

March 10, 2017

Subject: Review and Assessment of Newspaper Articles associated with the West

Berkeley Shellmound (CA-ALA-307) and the Spatial Relationship of this

Prehistoric Site to the Proposed 1900 Fourth Street Project

At your request, my associates and I have carefully reviewed the newspaper articles pertaining to

the West Berkeley Shellmound (formally designated as CA-ALA-307) as collected by Mr. Richard

Schwartz.

My associates and I have reviewed the articles and other materials provided by Mr. Schwartz, and

have also reviewed his comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). The majority

of the accounts related to the excavation of the above-ground portion West Berkeley mound itself

and its immediate environs. These articles and notes, which ranged in time from the later 19th

century to well into the 20th century, recounted both amateur and academic explorations of the

mound. Those that provided location information placed the mound in its known location one

block west of the 1900 4th Street lot, or provided information that clearly tied the excavation to the

known mound.

A number of the articles on record recounted that the mound was being hauled away for road

bedding. As detailed in our testing report, the fact that the mound was moved during the historic

period is one factor that may create secondary shell midden deposits. Several of these early

newspaper accounts also mention attempts to preserve the mound.

Most informative were the articles recounting accidental discoveries of human remains and

associated artifacts in locations outside the block where the known portion of CA-ALA-307 once

stood. Though such finds reflect the neighborhood’s high sensitivity for prehistoric archaeological

remains, none of these accounts described locating any cultural materials within the 1900 4th Street

block. Such finds were concentrated primarily within and to the north and west of the CA-ALA-

307 block.

Allow me to turn my attention to the question about the 1884 article in the Berkeley Advocate that

describes burials being found at the Franklin House. The article refers to ten burials found at “the

2 5283 Broadway, Oakland, California 94618 ▪ (510) 601-6185 ▪ Fax (510) 601-8203 ▪ [email protected]

shell mound back [sic] of the Franklin House in West Berkeley” and notes that the remains were

turned over to university students (Anon 1884).

Schwartz, in his DEIR comments, states that “this find of ten human remains would have likely

been on the 1900 Fourth Street lot”. Our research shows that the Franklin House was located across

the tracks to the west of the 1900 4th Street lot, on the same block as the West Berkeley

Shellmound.

The Franklin House was a two-story hotel built along the railroad line in the late 1870s (Cohen

2008). It was illustrated in an 1885 promotional publication as a large, two-story structure with a

wraparound covered veranda (Elliott 1885). City directories dating to the late 19th and early 20th

centuries specified its location at the intersection of 3rd and University. The Franklin House

changed its name to the Ocean View Hotel in 1904 (Husted 1904:655).

Husted’s 1892-93 city directory clearly specifies that the Franklin House was located at the

northwest corner of 3rd and University, which is across the railroad tracks from the 1900 4th

Street block (Husted 1892:806). Maps dating to the era – specifically, the 1905 U.S. Coast Survey

map and the 1911 Sanborn map – accordingly show structures on the northwest, but not northeast,

corner of that intersection.

City directories list Cornelius Maloney as the Franklin House proprietor in 1887 (Husted 1887).

In the 1890s, John J. Higgins ran the hotel; he was succeeded in the first decade of the 20th century

by Joseph Doran, during which time the name changed from Franklin House to Ocean View Hotel

(Husted 1892:806; 1903:1009; 1904:655). Henry Moskowitz was the proprietor in 1910 (Husted

1910:1100), around the time that the Sanborn Map was drawn. The 1911 Sanborn Map clearly

labels the structure at the northwest corner of 3rd and University as the Ocean View Hotel (Sanborn

Map Company 1911:61).

At this point, my associates and I are satisfied that neither the Franklin House/Ocean View Hotel,

nor the “mound back of” it, was located within the 1900 Fourth Street block, and that the above-

described evidence will suffice to convince Mr. Schwartz and any other concerned parties. If

additional evidence is required, we would be happy to look further into the matter.

I have also reviewed the map created based on Mr. Schwartz’s information and believe that it plots

the identified locations as accurately as possible given the limited information provided in many

of the referenced sources.

I hope the remarks in this letter are of use to you and your associates.

Sincerely yours,

Allen G. Pastron, Ph.D.

President, Archeo-Tec


Works Cited

Anon

1884 [Article About Franklin House]. Berkeley Advocate June 21.

Cohen, Alan

2008 Making Berkeley into a Real Town. A History of Berkeley, From The Ground Up.

http://historyofberkeley.org/chapter12.html.

Elliott, W.W.

1885 Oakland and Surroundings Illustrated and Described. W.W. Elliott, Oakland, California.

http://interactive.ancestry.com/26211/dvm_LocHist010864-00065-1/130.

Husted, F.M.

1887 Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley City Directory. McKenney Directory Company, Oakland,

California.

1892 Husted’s Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley Directory. F.M. Husted, Oakland, California.

1903 Husted’s Oakland, Alameda & Berkeley Directory. F.M. Husted, Oakland, California.

1904 Husted’s Oakland, Alameda & Berkeley Directory. F.M. Husted, Oakland, California.

1910 Husted’s Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda Directory. Polk-Husted Directory Co., Oakland,

California.

Sanborn Map Company

1911 Insurance Maps of Berkeley, Including Albany, Alameda Co., California. Vol. 1. Sanborn Map

Company, New York.

Exhibit B

1. Pinart removed human remains and artifacts from the West Berkeley Shellmound (refer to #1‐#7) – West Berkeley Shellmound (refer to #8‐#10, #22) – Professor Merriam (UC Berkley) will be commencing studies at the mound (refer to #15). Graduate students will be assisting to study them ‘scientifically’ (refer to #16) – disappearing, being used for street purposes (refer to #25) – rapid hauling of the shellmound at 2nd and Hearst for “street purposes” (refer to #27) – another article on the same activity (refer to # 28) – R.S. anecdote (refer to #33) – the mound rose 25 feet to its apex (refer to #36) – unearthed some ‘70 human skeletons’ (refer to #38) – UC graduate research archeologist James Bennyhoff estimated 20’ high mound and inhabitants: 20’ high mound and inhabitants lived sedentary life for 1,000 years a the “garbage pit and burial ground” (refer to #39‐#41)

2. Franklin House (refer to #10) 3. Between 2nd‐3rd Streets on Bristol the street was in very dangerous condition caused injudicious shellmound

digging (refer to #1‐#7)4. One skeleton discovered (refer to #11) – found 10ft. Deep (refer to #12)5. General statement about streets paved with native sod (refer to #13)6. Man discovered a human skull ten feet below surface at Bristol St. (Hearst), west of 2nd St. It is also noted that

several years prior to the article’s printing, the same mound was a “favorite resort of Indian relic‐hunters; but until recently it has remained unnoticed and apparently forgotten.” (refer to #14)

7. Foot of University, general location assumed (refer to #17). Findings on the bay shore (refer to #18). Mounds at West Berkeley Shore (refer to #19‐#21) – West of Second St. (refer to #34) – at the foot of University, there was a village (refer to #42)

8. 1903 article documents the Shellmound on Everding’s mill (refer to #23) –1903 ‐ Shellmound “in the rear of Everding’s feed store and mill” – South side (refer to #24)

9. 1919 4th St. (refer to #26)10. Presence of a now‐destroyed mound, within a couple blocks east – dug up during construction (refer to #26) –

cultural remains even further East by some hundreds of feet, general area assumption (refer to #26) – 5 blocks East of 1900 Fourth 150‐200’ in each direction (refer to #37) – R. Schwartz revealed shell scatter with aged bone visible at a site some few blocks east of the 1900 Fourth (refer to #44) – SE of 1900 Fourth just E of San Pablo 2007 pedestrian by R. Schwartz survey (refer to #45)

11. Remains dug out of shellmound behind Everdings mill at Second and Bristol (refer to #30) – unearthed at during city sewer repairs by city in the street intersection of Hearst and Second (refer to #43)

12. “Tiny sea shells” in proximity is found within blocks of the 1900 Fourth to the NW, police said it was an Indian burial mound (refer to #31)

13. A pelvis unearthed at Third and University, under elevator shaft (refer to #35) 14. R. Schwartz found significant shell scatter on north side of Hearst, general area assumption (refer to #46)

Note: Records and photos of collections donated to California Academy of Sciences (refer to #47)*Duplicate deleted: #29, #32

14

16

7

8

910

13

34

116

RICHARD SCHWARTZ RECORDED SITES/HISTORICAL DATA MAP

KEY

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Exhibit C

January 31, 2017

Blake Griggs Properties 550 Hartz Avenue Danville, California 94526

Attention: Ms. Lauren Seaver Vice President, Development

Subject: Holocene Geology and Land Filling History 1900 4th Street, Berkeley, California 94710 Geosphere Project No. 91-03190-D

Dear Ms. Seaver:

At your request, Geosphere Consultants, Inc. (Geosphere), is pleased to present this report which documents the history of land fill and development in the area of the proposed project site at University Avenue and 4th Street in Berkeley California, commonly known as the Spenger’s Restaurant parking lot. We previously performed a design level geotechnical engineering study for the project, as well as provided supplemental design-related consultations. The scope of our current work addresses the history of fill placement and general development of the project area, and consisted of research of historic maps which document the site improvements and cultural history of the site. Of particular interest is the interaction of filling of the site with documentation of adjacent shell mounds. The presence of shell mounds is noted on various geologic and topographic maps and this letter provides a summary of the historic documentation of these shell mounds.

Site Description

The proposed project is located west of 4th Street in Berkeley, and bound by 4th Street on the east, University Avenue on the south, Hearst Avenue on the north, and the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) tracks on the west, as shown on Figure 1 - Site Vicinity Map. The geographic coordinates of the proposed site improvements are approximately 37.868 degrees north latitude and 122.300 degrees west longitude. The proposed project site is about 96,260 square feet in area, and is mostly occupied by a paved parking lot. A small, single-story building, occupies the southwest corner of the property. The property measures approximately 238 feet by 405 feet, and is essentially level. Project site elevations range between approximately 9.0 at the northwest and southwest corners of the property, to about 11.1 near the northeast corner of the property, based on City of Berkeley (COB) Datum (El. 100.00 COB Datum = El. 103.17 NGVD 1929 or Mean Sea Level Datum). The local topography slopes west toward San Francisco Bay. Site drainage is controlled by nearby Strawberry Creek which has been placed into a culvert and re-routed away from the site. Historically, Strawberry Creek passed through the majority of the site, and the creek has subsequently been re-routed into a culvert located below adjacent University Avenue (Sowers and Richard, 2009).

Site Geology

Geologic maps indicate native materials underlying the site and Strawberry Creek alluvial and marsh deposits to consist of Quaternary-age alluvial fan deposits of the Temescal Formation. A generalized geologic map of the site vicinity is presented as Figure 2 - Site Vicinity Geologic Map. Holocene geologic mapping (Radbruch, 1957) shows

Geosphere Project No. 91-03190-D January 31, 2017

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deeper soft Bay Mud deposits located adjacent to the southwest corner of the proposed site within the old tidal inlet, and creek flood plain deposits extending across the site in a southwest to northeast direction, crossing to the east side of 4th Street. Our previous site investigation encountered fill within the upper four to five feet of the site with deep estuary/marsh deposits below. The majority of the site is underlain by young marsh deposits, with no marsh deposits present at the far north end of the site. A cross-section of the Holocene geology is presented in the attached Figure 3 – Cross Section A-A’.

Land Filling History

We performed a review of historic maps available through sources including the following:

U.S. Geological Survey County of Alameda University of California, Berkeley

California Geological Survey City of Berkeley U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey

Based on this research, we developed a history of fill placement within the project location. Attached with this report are copies of the maps discussed in the following sections.

1856 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (Figure 4)

This map is the earliest map that we could readily find of the site. This map showed some of the preliminary land subdivision lines which were remnant of the original California Rancho subdivision of the land, as well as the original alignment of San Pablo Road (present San Pablo Avenue). We used these landmarks to overlay the existing site location on the map. At the time of this map, there were almost no identified structures and there was no filling of the bay marshlands. This map reflected an unaltered shoreline and estuary area. To the west and east of the project site were two topographic mounds as shown on this map. These mounds are not depicted on the project site. These two mounds were later interpreted to be shell mounds (Nels Nelson, 1909). The topographic map showed that the majority of the site was occupied by the Strawberry Creek estuary and the site was flat with no topographic rise on it.

1884 Dingee Real Estate Map with Shell Mound (Figure 5)

Between this time and the 1856 map, significant subdivision and development of the West Berkeley area had taken place. The site is located adjacent to the Central Pacific Railroad alignment and was designated as Lot 88. The adjacent parcel to the west, across the railroad alignment, was designated as Lot 89. Lot 89 appeared to have a topographic hill depicted on it which we interpret to be a remnant of the shell mound identified in the 1856 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey map. We note that Lot 87 to the east and 74 to the northeast showed no similar topographic hill depiction and we can only surmise that the eastern mound may have been removed for development purposes. At this time, the original bay margin to the west appeared to be unaltered by bay filling.

1909 Nels Nelson Shell Heaps Map (Figure 6)

This map is part of a work performed by UC Berkeley Professor Nels Nelson to document the shell mounds of the San Francisco Bay. The map is a key map identifying locations in a general location and does not have site specific locations and boundaries. It provides a general designation that there were shell mounds near the mouth of Strawberry Creek but does not provide the site specific detail in the 1856 or 1884 Dingee maps.

1915 USGS Topo Map (Figure 7)

At this time, the area was developing. The topographic map shows Strawberry Creek crossing through the southern side of the site. Buildings were located on the southeast and central east side of the site. There were


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structures shown on the parcels to the east and west, but Strawberry Creek was still shown as a surface-flowing creek. Based on the more constrained alignment of the creek, it appears that some filling of the north-central portion of the site may have occurred by this time. Some filling of the bay is observed along the north side of the Berkeley Pier.


By 1942, it appeared that Strawberry Creek had been placed into a culvert several blocks to the east. A small building still occupied the southeast corner and a much larger structure occupied the northeast 1/3 of the site. Filling of the bay lands was taking place to the northwest of the area near present day Golden Gate Fields, but lands adjacent to the Berkeley Pier appeared to be similar to the 1915 map. Filling had taken place for the construction of U.S. Highway 40, which would later become Interstate 80.


By this time, the filling and adjustments to the subject site appeared to be consistent with today. The large structure in the northeast side of the site was still shown on the topographic map. Future filling will occur at the Berkeley Marina to the west, but the subject site had no further evidence of change, except for the removal of the buildings shown on the site.

1957 USGS Geology and Topo Map (Figure 10)

The 1957 Radbruch map was prepared as an engineering geology/ geologic map which included a summary of previous data from the 1856 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey map as well as provided mapping of the extent of estuary deposits related to Strawberry Creek. This map superimposed select 1856 mapping of water-related features (e.g., shell mound locations, tidal flats, old shorelines, and historic location of creeks, including the Strawberry Creek channel) on a map showing 1957 topographic contours and physical features (e.g., streets and significant buildings), as well as geologic mapping of soil and bedrock formations. On this map, the shell mounds are clearly mapped to the west and east of the site, with no shell mounds present on the project site itself. In addition, the map shows the project site to clearly be occupied by the filled tidal flat and marsh area associated with the mouth of Strawberry Creek.

Figure 11 is a composite figure with data compiled from the 1856 shoreline map, 1884 subdivision map, and 1957 geologic map and showing the location of the project site. This figure shows that all of the mapped shell mounds are in close proximity to, but not encroaching upon the project site. Figure 12, which shows the mapped shell mounds superimposed on the 1957 topographic map showing present day street locations, is similar to Figure 11, showing that the mapped shell mounds do not encroach onto the project site.

Conclusions

We have traced the site development through a review of published maps readily available through public records as well as our borings. The subject site started to be developed between 1856 and 1884. This most likely occurred as the Central Pacific Railroad was constructed to provide access in the 1870s. Mapping from 1856 showed the vast majority of the site to have been occupied by the Strawberry Creek tidal marsh. This mapping is consistent with the information generated from our exploratory test borings, and our findings during our site investigation. The cross-section of soils readily shows that most of the site is underlain by the marsh deposits. Our research shows that topographic mounds interpreted to be shell mounds were located on the lot to the west and the lot to the east, but not on the subject project site itself. The historic maps indicate that the Strawberry Creek channel area occupied the project site until sometime between 1915 and 1942, when the project site was filled, and the


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creek diverted into a culvert to the south of the site extending downstream to San Francisco Bay south of University Avenue.

We greatly appreciate the opportunity to continue to serve Blake Griggs Properties. If you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact us at (925) 314-7180.

Sincerely, GEOSPHERE CONSULTANTS, INC.

Eric J. Swenson, PG, GE, CEG Corey T. Dare, PE, GE Principal Engineering Geologist Principal Geotechnical Engineer

Attachments: Figures 1 thru 12 References

Distribution: PDF to Addressee; [email protected]

EJS/CTD:pmf

FIGURES

Figure 1 – Site Plan Figure 2 – Site Vicinity Geology Map

Figure 3 –Cross Section A-A’ Figure 4 – 1856 Coast and Geodetic Survey Map

Figure 5 – 1884 Dingee Real Estate Map w/ Shell Mound Figure 6 – 1909 Nels Nelson Shell Heaps Map

Figure 7 – 1915 USGS Topo Map Figure 8 – 1942 USGS Topo Map Figure 9 – 1946 USGS Topo Map

Figure 10 – 1957 USGS Geology and Topo Map Figure 11 – Composite of 1856 and 1957 over 1884 Map

Figure 12 – Composite of 1856/1884 over 1957 Map

REFERENCES

REFERENCES

Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), September 2003, Liquefaction Susceptibility maps, based on William Lettis and Associates and USGS mapping, website: http://www.abag.ca.gov

California Geological Survey, 2003, Seismic Hazard Zone Report for the Oakland West 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Alameda County, California: Seismic Hazard Zone Report 081, 55 p.

California Geological Survey, 2003, State of California Seismic Hazard Zones, Oakland West Quadrangle, Official Map, Released: February 14, 2003.

Geosphere Consultants Inc., 2015, Geotechnical Engineering Study, Mixed-Use Development, 1900 4th Street, Berkeley, California; consultant’s report for West Berkeley Investors, LLC, dated July 31, 2015.

Graymer, R.W., Moring, B.C., Saucedo, G.J., Wentworth, C.M., Brabb, E.E., and Knudsen, K.L., 2006, Geologic Map of the San Francisco Bay Region, California: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 2918, Scale 1:275,000.

Graymer, R.W., Jones, D.L. and Brabb, E.E., 1996, Preliminary Geologic Map Emphasizing Bedrock Formations in Alameda County, California: Derived from the Digital Database Open-File 96-252; U.S. Geological Survey.

Helley, E.J. and Graymer, R.W., 1997, Quaternary Geology of Alameda County and Surrounding Areas, California: Derived from the Digital Database Open-File 97-97; U.S. Geological Survey.

Page, B.M., 1966, Geology of the Coast Ranges of California: in Bailey, E.H., Jr., editor, Geology of Northern California: California Geological Survey Bulletin 190, p. 255-276.

Nelson, Nels, 1908, Map of San Francisco Bay, Distribution of Shell Heaps.

Radbruch, D.H., 1957, Areal and Engineering Geology of the Oakland West Quadrangle, California: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-239.

Sowers, J.M. and Richard, C.M., 2009, Creek & Watershed Map of Oakland and Berkeley (fourth edition): Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA, 1:25,800 scale.

Treadwell & Rollo, 1999, Geotechnical Investigation, Spenger’s Plaza, Berkeley, California: consultant’s report dated November 10, 1999.

University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library: Historic Maps of California – San Francisco Bay Area: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/histopo/

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Web Soil Survey; http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/WebSoilSurvey.aspx

U.S Coast and Geodetic Survey, Plain Table Sheet, San Francisco Bay, Sheet XXV, 1856.

U. S. Geological Survey, 2012, Oakland West Quadrangle, California – Alameda Co. 7.5 Minute Series (Topographic).

Wagner, D. L., and others, compilers, 1991, Geologic map of the San Francisco – San Jose quadrangle: California Geological Survey, Regional Geologic Map 5A; scale 1:250,000.

Publications may have been used as general reference and not specifically cited in the report text.

Exhibit D

ARCHEO-TEC

CONSULTING ARCHAEOLOGISTS

5283 Broadway, Oakland, California 94618 ▪ (510) 601-6185 ▪ Fax (510) 601-8203 ▪ [email protected]

Lauren Seaver

Vice President, Development

BLAKE/GRIGGS PROPERTIES

550 Hartz Avenue, Suite 200

Danville, California 94526

March 10, 2017

Subject: Review and Assessment of the Boundaries of the Prehistoric Archaeological

Site Commonly Known as the West Berkeley Shellmound (CA-ALA-307) and

the Spatial Relationship of this Prehistoric Site to the Proposed 1900 Fourth

Street Project

Dear Ms. Seaver:

At your request, my associates and I have carefully reviewed the substantial body of literature

(consisting of both scientific studies and anecdotal sources) pertaining to the West Berkeley

Shellmound (formally designated as CA-ALA-307) in an attempt to determine the most likely

location, boundaries and dimensions of this prehistoric archaeological site before it was

subjected to massive and repeated episodes of topographic modification and degradation,

beginning nearly 150 years ago and continuing well into the second half of the 20th century.

Specifically, my associates and I have evaluated the available historical sources to determine

whether the historical boundaries of CA-ALA-307 correspond to that portion of West Berkeley

that has been designated, or “Landmarked,” by the State of California and the City of Berkeley

as representing the horizontal extent of the West Berkeley Shellmound. Finally, as I have done

on numerous past occasions, I shall comment upon the body of evidence concerning the spatial

relationship between the location and boundaries of CA-ALA-307 and the proposed 1900 Fourth

Street Project – i.e., the block of West Berkeley bounded by University Avenue on the south,

Hearst Avenue on the north, Fourth Street on the east and the Union Pacific Railroad tracks on

the west.

Allow me to come directly to the point. While there can be no question that the area that has

been designated for Landmark status by both the State of California and the City of Berkeley as

representing the horizontal borders of CA-ALA-307 exists within a zone of prehistoric

archaeological sensitivity, it is much less clear whether significant portions of the West Berkeley

Shellmound ever actually covered portions of this designated area, including much, if not all, of

the proposed 1900 Fourth Street Project block. Indeed, a review of the available historical

evidence suggests that this prehistoric shellmound was situated largely, perhaps entirely, to the

west of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and, hence, beyond the borders of the 1900 Fourth

Street Project area.


The primary lines of inquiry that led to this conclusion are these:

1. Although the exact boundaries of the “original” West Berkeley Shellmound were unclear even in the early 1900s, early archaeological studies generally agreed that the majority or

entirety of the shellmound were situated to the west of the railroad tracks prior to

historical disturbance.

2. Historical sources, including the 1856 Coast Survey manuscript map and archaeological notes from 1900-1911 (U.S. Coast Survey 1856; Nelson and Peterson 1911), indicate that

a second smaller shellmound was present to the east of what we now call the West

Berkeley Shellmound; the second mound was recorded roughly where the Anthropologie

store is now, and is probably the origin of human remains found recently east of Fourth

Street.

3. Subsurface investigations that my associates and I carried out in 1999, 2000, and 2014 identified lenses of shell in what is, in my estimation, a disturbed context underneath the

1900 Fourth Street property; we found no evidence of an in situ extension of the

shellmound or human remains.

4. A geoarchaeological study by Garcia and Associates in the early 2000s identified a distinctive paleosol in the vicinity of the West Berkeley Shellmound, which they believed

to correspond with the soil layer recorded immediately underneath the shellmound. This

paleosol was carved away and repeatedly flooded by the many branches of Strawberry

Creek while the site was occupied; instances of shell observed in Archeo-Tec’s repeated

investigations of the 1900 Fourth Street property have all been found within the alluvial

creek deposits rather than on the paleosol, and so were most likely displaced from their

original locations.

Before proceeding further, it is not my intention here to once again reiterate the findings of

previous archaeological studies concerning the areal extent of the West Berkeley Shellmound.

These studies have been adequately discussed and assessed in a variety of reports and other

documents, including Archeo-Tec’s 2014 detailed report entitled “A Report on the

Archaeological Testing Conducted within the Spenger’s Parking Lot, Bounded by University

Avenue, Hearst Avenue, Fourth Street and the Tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad, City of

Berkeley, Alameda County, California” (Archeo-Tec 2014). Rather, my intention in this letter is

to provide a synopsis of what is known and what remains undetermined about the location,

boundaries and dimensions of the West Berkeley Shellmound.

At this point, it is important to note that the exact location, dimensions and boundaries of the

West Berkeley Shellmound (CA-ALA-307) were never delineated with any degree of precision.

This lack of crucial information can be attributed to a variety of factors. For one, by the time

archaeologists arrived on the scene to assess the West Berkeley Shellmound during the first

decade of the 20th century, the site had already been subject to massive disturbance (Furlong et

al. 2006). Substantial portions of the mound had already been leveled, and the disturbed deposit

had been spread over a relatively widespread area of West Berkeley. There are numerous

accounts of site looting and the unauthorized collection of artifacts and human remains at the

West Berkeley Shellmound between the later years of the 19th century and at least the mid-20th

century. As such, even more than a century ago, the task of determining the specific location and

dimensions of the mound in its “original” state is extremely difficult.


In addition, one has to be careful about what is meant when one speaks of the mound in its

“original” condition. There is no doubt that the West Berkeley Shellmound is one of the oldest

prehistoric archaeological sites in the San Francisco Bay region. There is general agreement

within the local archaeological community that CA-ALA-307 was first inhabited some 3,500

years ago, possibly even earlier than that. There can be little doubt that the location, dimensions,

constituents, and number of inhabitants of the site changed substantially over this long span of

time. Hence, if we are talking about the size and condition of the mound at the beginning of the

historic era, toward the close of the 18th century, that is not necessarily the same as assessing the

size and condition of the site 500, or 1,000, or 1,5000 years earlier. The changing conditions of

the site over time, and the reflections of these changes in the archaeological record, must be

borne in mind even though they are very difficult to assess with any degree of specificity.

With these interpretive obstacles in mind, let me summarize what is known, or generally

believed, about the location and dimensions of the West Berkeley Shellmound. Most of the early

scientific studies, including the pioneering early 20th century work of N.C. Nelson and the mid-

20th century investigations of Wallace and Lathrap, concur that the specific location, size and

dimensions of CA-ALA-307 were never properly or precisely delineated (Furlong et al. 2006;

Wallace and Lathrap 1975). For the most part, these studies seem to offer general agreement that

the most substantial portion, if not the entirety, of CA-ALA-307 was, in its “original” state,

situated to the west of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, and hence, to the west of the western

border of the 1900 Fourth Street Project site. Indeed, recent construction work monitored by

archaeological observers has confirmed that a substantial prehistoric deposit, presumably a

remnant of the West Berkeley Shellmound, exists below the surface of the ground to the west of

the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

It should be noted, however, that N.C. Nelson’s 1910-1911 notes, which he indicates are a

revision of Peterson’s 1904 work, make reference to a second shellmound, located in relatively

close proximity to the east of CA-ALA-307 (Nelson and Peterson 1911). It is possible that

Nelson’s observation may be reflected in the recent discovery of prehistoric archaeological

materials, including human remains, within the 1919 Fourth Street Project site, situated directly

to the east of the 1900 Fourth Street Project site. It should be stressed that the spatial, functional,

temporal and/or historical relationships, if any, between the West Berkeley Shellmound and the

recently-discovered prehistoric cultural deposit at 1919 Fourth Street remain undetermined at the

present time.

In 1999, 2000, and 2014, my associates and I undertook systematic subsurface archaeological

investigations within the borders of the 1900 Fourth Street Project site. In 1999 and 2000, my

associates and I excavated and evaluated a total of 43 mechanical exploratory borings within the

borders of the Spenger’s Parking Lot (Pastron 2000). In 2014, my associates and I excavated

and evaluated a series of mechanical exploratory trenches and one large areal exposure at

selected places within the project area (Archeo-Tec 2014). As indicated in Archeo-Tec’s 2014

report, a number of thin, scattered lenses of shell, possibly derived from the nearby CA-ALA-

307, were identified in various locations beneath the surface of the ground within the 1900

Fourth Street site. However, nothing that was found was deemed to represent a primary (in situ)

prehistoric archaeological deposit. Indeed, the archaeological investigations failed to identify

any “historically significant” prehistoric cultural resources or, most importantly, human remains.


Finally, allow me to address the question from a geoarchaeological perspective. Shellmounds,

and the geographic history of their associated landscapes, are extremely complex features. The

West Berkeley Shellmound was formed by changing populations, in a dynamic landscape, over

millennia. Geographic changes (e.g., sea level changes, shifting locations and depths of

Strawberry Creek, seasonal flooding, erosion of the bay shore by wave action) took place before,

during, and after the mound was deposited. Geoarchaeology takes this geomorphology into

account in assessing site formation and natural post-depositional processes, all of which took

place before 19th- and 20th-century removal of the mound resulted in human-caused re-

deposition, and before these layers were subsequently buried by landfill.

In 2001, Garcia and Associates, under Principal Investigator Christopher Dore, performed a

geoarchaeological assessment of the neighborhood surrounding both the 1900 4th Street block

and the known location of CA-ALA-307 (Dore et al. 2002). A hundred and twenty-four cores

were placed, and detailed information regarding the area’s geomorphology, as well as cultural

deposits, was collected. Thirty-three of these samples revealed cultural deposits, and of these,

sixteen were interpreted as primary deposits.

Dore’s study was able to identify a paleosol—an ancient soil layer clearly pre-dating human

occupation—at numerous locations within his study area. This layer, consisting of a flat alluvial

deposit topped with clay, sits atop bay mud and was deposited before all known human activity;

it thus forms a sort of basement for cultural deposits. According to Dore’s assessment of Wallace

and Lathrap’s mid-20th century archaeological excavation, CA-ALA-307 appears to sit directly

atop this intact layer, suggesting that it represents a prehistoric habitation surface. During periods

of low sea level, the many shifting channels of Strawberry Creek carved through this paleosol

level all the way down to the underlying bay mud.

In a 2004 paper detailing the geoarchaeological investigations in West Berkeley, Dore et al.

suggest that midden deposits identified in Archeo-Tec’s 1999-2000 study, which was ambiguous

at the time due to the limited context available from a boring, were in a primary rather than

secondary context (Dore et al. 2004:30). However, this question has been made clearer by our

larger 2014 exposures at 1900 Fourth Street, which targeted the areas in which deposits had been

identified in the earlier borings. Small pockets of shell midden were found during our testing

program amid deep alluvial gravels from ancient channels of Strawberry Creek directly

overlying bay mud, rather than, as at the West Berkeley Shellmound, atop the intact paleosol.

As our testing report points out (Archeo-Tec 2014:36), the trace midden deposits that were found

during our testing program appear to be materials from the nearby shellmounds that were

redeposited, either by the creek (in the case of deeper deposits found in natural alluvial layers) or

by historic period disturbance to the shellmound (in the case of deposits found alongside

historical trash deposits). It remains my opinion that the prehistoric materials we have identified

within the 1900 Fourth Street property are depositionally distinct from CA-ALA-307 and does

not likely represent an extension of the mound itself.

In summary, based on the information my associates and I have reviewed and assessed, there is

no evidence that demonstrates that any portion of the primary deposit associated with CA-ALA-

307 exists within the borders of the proposed 1900 Fourth Street Project. This is not to

conclusively state that such cultural remains may not exist somewhere within the block bounded

by University Avenue, Hearst Avenue, Fourth Street, and the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.


What I can state is that such evidence was not encountered at any time during the course of the

three discrete programs of subsurface archaeological investigation conducted under my

supervision by personnel of Archeo-Tec within the above-described project site between 1999

and 2014. Similarly, my review of prior archaeological investigations and anecdotal reports did

not provide any evidence either. Given these findings, it is my conclusions that the area that has

been “Landmarked” by the City of Berkeley and the State of California may, in fact, not

correspond directly with the location and dimensions of CA-ALA-307. Based on the evidence I

have reviewed, the evidence suggest that the West Berkeley Shellmound was located primarily,

if not entirely, to the west of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and that the outer boundaries of

the West Berkeley Shellmound remain somewhat ambiguous. Although the exact boundaries

remain ambiguous, none of the deposits found during my extensive subsurface archaeological

investigations included primary (in situ) prehistoric archaeological deposit, so at this time there

is no evidence that the West Berkeley Shellmound exists within the borders of the proposed 1900

Fourth Street Project.

I hope the remarks in this letter are of use to you and your associates.

Sincerely yours,

Allen G. Pastron, Ph.D.

President, Archeo-Tec


Works Cited

Archeo-Tec

2014 A Report on Archaeological Testing Conducted within the Spenger’s Parking Lot, Bounded by

University Avenue, Hearst Avenue, Fourth Street and the Tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad,

City of Berkeley, Alameda County, California. Report prepared by Archeo-Tec, Oakland.

Dore, Christopher D., Stephen Bryne, and James W. Jenks

2002 Cultural Resources Inventory, Significance Evaluation, and Effects Assessment for Capital

Improvement Projects in Public Streets in the West Berkeley Redevelopment Area, City of

Berkeley, Alameda County, California. Prepared by Garcia & Associates.

Dore, Christopher D., Stephen Bryne, Michael McFaul, and Garry L. IV Running

2004 Why Here? Settlement, Geoarchaeology, and Paleoenvironment at the West Berkeley Site (CA-

Ala-307). Proceedings of the Society for California Archaeology 17:27–33.

Furlong, E.L., Arnold Pilling, Richard Schultz, and Christopher D. Dore

2006 Primary Record for P-01-000084 (CA-ALA-307).

Nelson, Nels C., and Joseph Peterson

1911 Nelson & Peterson, W. Berkeley Mound #307 (orig. notes) 1910-11. California Archaeology

Manuscript #13.

Pastron, Allen G.

2000 Pre-Construction Archaeological Testing Program Conducted within a Portion of the Proposed

Spenger’s Plaza Development Project, (Specifically, the Northwestern, Southeastern and

Southwestern Quadrants of the Paved Parking Lot Bounded by University Avenue,. Prepared by

Archeo-Tec, Oakland, for Commercial Lessors, Berkeley.

U.S. Coast Survey

1856 San Francisco Bay, California (Register No. 591). U.S. Coast Survey, Washington, D.C.

Wallace, William J., and Donald W. Lathrap

1975 West Berkeley (CA-ALA-307): A Culturally Stratified Shellmound on the East Shore of San

Francisco Bay. Contributions of the Archaeological Research Faculy University of California,

Berkeley. Vol. 29. Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Faculty

Berkeley.

Exhibit E

1900 4...3 5283 Broadway, Oakland, California 94618 (510) 601-6185 Fax (510) 601-8203...

Documents

Transcript of 1900 4...3 5283 Broadway, Oakland, California 94618 (510) 601-6185 Fax (510) 601-8203...