Speakers of Ohlone dialects occupied the lands encompassed by Alameda, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and San Francisco Counties. One Ohlone triblet, the Carquin, occupied lands on the north shore of the Carquinez Strait in Solano County and probably in the southern part of Napa County.
Alameda/Calaveras Creek confluence3 bedrock mortarsGood luck finding these, folks. We had to be led to this site by someone who knew exactly where the mortars were. On a revisit, even with the GPS, we couldn’t find them all. Siltation may have claimed the “lost” mortars.
Castle Rock Park Partridge Farm area7 bedrock mortars and several probable mortarsElevation 2983 ft.This is another site Joel discovered just off Skyline Blvd. near the top of a watercourse.Three mortars on one rock.This rock holds two mortars. The one on top falls into the “probable” category.Go down the hill slope toward the creek to find […]
Garin, single mortar1 bedrock mortar next to the trail under a tree.Was this little camp a traveler’s rest stop?Bob’s right hand just about spans the mortar’s mouth.One should secure permission before visiting this site.
Lexington Reservoir27 bedrock mortarsElevation 632 ft.This site is underwater when the reservoir is full.Joel led us here on one of his amazing South Bay tours.Looking toward the site.The water level in Lexington Reservoir was pretty low in March of 2012.Note the clustering of these mortars. The mouths of the larger and deeper ones are elliptical […]
North Walpert LookoutTwo bedrock mortars.Elevation 1480 ft.Jeff certainly has a flair for discovering obscure, out-of-the-way sites.The views form this site are phenomenal.Looking west over Stonebrae.Mt. Diablo and the Black Hills rise in the distance.Oh yeah…one of the mortars.Photographs by Bob Bardell.
Siplichiquin Shell MoundLarge shellmound with a bay viewElevation 30 ft.Subsurface charcoal samples recovered here have been radiocarbon dated back over 5,000 years, making this shellmound one of the oldest in the Bay Area. Other charcoal samples date from just a few hundred years ago. Perhaps this mound was an active village site when the Spanish […]
Third TerraceSix bedrock mortars spread over a fairly wide area.Elevation 1035 ft.A view of the third terrace.One of the two two-mortar rocks here. Note the battered interior of the funnel mortar.Looking at a mortar rock holding a big bowl mortar.The bowl mortar.Above photographs by Bob Bardell.The other two-mortar rock here.Bob stands near the other mortar […]
Wildcat Creek4 bedrock mortars and 5 anvils or shallow mortarsElevation 267 ft.Thanks to John for directing us to this site.The mortar rock sits next to a beautiful poolOne of the bedrock mortars. The underlying rock here is blueschist.Bob straddles the mortar pictured above.
Albany Hill4 bedrock mortars and rich midden on the northeast side of Albany Hill near Cerrito Creek.Elevation 24 ft.There was an Ohlone settlement here. In addition to the shell middens at this site (Nelson’s 1909 map shows four), there were two on Point Isabel, which was once just offshore of Albany Hill.One of Nelson’s four […]
Cave Camp5 bedrock mortarsElevation 915 ft.Access to this site is strictly controlled. Call LARPD at (925) 373-5707 for details
