The San Francisco call. [volume], August 11, 1907, Page 1, Image 1

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
The San Francisco Sunday Call.
TWENTY THOUSAND
YEARS AGO AT
SHELL MOUND
Jack Jungmeyer
\u25a0 —OH years pleasure seekers of San
1 Francisco and the bay cities
I ' have taken their recreation on
~ those peculiar shell mounds at
51: ell "3lou2*d park, Emervvllie,' In the
edge cf .Oakland, 'without suspecting
that beneath their feet, wrapped in the
dhn Eiystery a£d stillness, of vanished
egea, lie the kings and princes "of a race
cf men. so ancient that they had begun
burying: their dead In this spot thou
sands of years before Columbus -had
even planned his first western voyage
cf discovery.
A millennium ago, when Ehs^ta in all
probability still smoldered ominously
end reddened the northern sky v.-ith its
sulphurous dimes, and when the tin
cased and uncharted western sea
chafed .the chores of an unbounded
\u25a0wilderness of whose existence the
white man had as -yet not even
ireaned. a primitive, dusky peopl*
were working out their tribal destiny
In labor and play, battle and council,
after the manner 1 of our aboriginal
kind, along the shores of what is now
£an Francisco bay. Like the early
llongols and Egyptians, who con
etructed their great wall and their
pyramids to arouse the wonder and
rpeculation cf their far posterity, these
western aborigines also bullded them
selves monuments that have lasted
throughout a thousand generations of •
their desky descendants and that haws
been h«id Intact where the white man's
more characterless monument h»* long
since -fallen into the unrecognixablo
mold cf decay. In those immense shell
mounds of^ their building which still
etandniore' or less well preserved after
all the Intervening aeons as "evidence
cf this younger, more barbaric na
tion's thought and . handiwork, • they
pave expression to their Srct <rude
conception cf percnanetscy and concur
rence cf effort. as prompted of tribal
consciousness and pride. Unlike those
other ancieats, being -more primitive,
tha mound builder left no written book
or chiseled tablet for posterity's en
ll^ttennient as to the travails and Jojs^
cf their* dally existence cr as to the-' 1
©oxspiexitj; ef concept to which their
awaJcenlns Intellect - had groped /its*
%ray ; they wera too little concerned with *
tha coming of future generations ' to
realize of what Value such' life "record,
wtmld be to those descendants or to In- '
terest thersselves' in keeping a chron- ,
Ida cf e-renta. Traditions of a slgnia
cant character, were handed down from
ceaeraticn to generation by< word' -of r
taouth, ' were weakened and finally lost ;
altogether in the repeated telling. .
JLeice frosa that record of tribal affairs i
was kept only inasmuch as evidence
characteristic of -the life they, led-7
cf such nature . that :it outlasted
that life— was preserved unconsciously '
In the ltp of the centuries which have;
«g«?n lifted it-to the l£tter' man's jrleTT,
together with the ,-wiiftYned" tones _n
that earlier human near whose body
\\X "lies. .';"'""..... V. "' ' * -'.
/ However, spch record as he. did un
consciously leave,, well, guarded and
conserved since " that . dim past \of the'
stone age in the kitchen, iniddcns pt
his own construction, is. an attestation'
of .the early mound builders' -eststenca'
which . is far more .valuable 'and ,con
vincing than, written or "graven ac-.
counts could\ 'possibly?* be;' to .find .a^
man's bones ; is far more .convincing of
his death than. written. account of tha 1
event could be*. and," to \u25a0''unearth and'
carefully examine ~,'the ; . stone ; harnmpr'
which that;man,had .'with- infinite labor'
and . patience- chipped^ from a
and with which" he^has sahsequently
crushed "the \ skull ' of "his V h'uaian ., and
carnivorous." enemies,. appealV.'zaor.e <di-~
rectly and' eincere'ly thin 'could , "all"
manner of speculation. "\u25a0conccrnliig ; f his"
implementsof the-' kitchen or the chaae. i
Excavations Scientists 5 V' \u25a0]' ',
• Each direct .Bubetanttatlon rof » the;
mound' buildeVs; ejrfstende! aa; it. ha 3
been heretofore" generWly-^conceived*by |
anthropoloelsts : has*, been A recently 'ad- <
duced' by \u25a0' two '.eminent^ Berkeleyj: scien- ;
tlsts, Profeesor. TJcrhn 'C^Merriam ;" and i
Dr.ilaxi.Uhle, worklri^-inithe/interesta
of the ,' of ' Calif ornla.v since
k1902 "Professor. 'ilerrlam ! and'.isr. *Uhle ,
have been, conducting:; extensive .'and'
systematic; excavations In* the^ Emery- ;
yllle- shell i mound '-which; \u25a0 lies ? not* far,
from ; the 'outskirts '.of /Oakland.^ This .
familikr . .knoll.. ihe.'dlstinguis|iips^f eat- :
ore : of ; Shell "\u25a0 ilousd was \u25a0 selected
I for, study and research 6ecaus«k lt;ls t one
- of : the>larsest.l£nown3lshißilfmoundsi'and t ;
• becaiuse : It \u25a0• is , the , best ' preservedVmound "•
* on:the"coaat-' : Thejtwo)Berkeley sden- -.
r tlsts have succeed^ajn pryfngff rbm* v tbe'«
» anclentitcrabjtha •'Becrets^bf ; a'-f oik ; ov«r^
% 10.COO • years-^-posslbly l twice; that inum-f:
i ber;Of[yearsT-nearer thei_ beginnings J
Ilf a^,than Ja'rei,we «"who"i ! eazaTesribusiy j.
v v upon. their, bones..;,; j^rvj >-.i^\.' ":* "' H'
-\ J From | evidence ." gained ; In > these i local *
.J. J eica va tf o as, ; as .vcell \\ as % from Tsimilar/
t one 3'; carried jon • the iwhole f
i worldi^rlthln ; recent ; y.ears.^. science j has i
i beea, abler to -restore- the clast^llnkslin v
*thatj-RU2ZItnS; chain.* of ticontlau^ty £of j
| human.! evolut^n^wblchjblidsjtSe^prei-^ 3 :
V'€nt''perlod';with^its pTOUdienlish'tenmejiTi :
' ':' --"- " '\u25a0• "- X\ -\u25a0\u25a0--.\u25a0..•*"—"- .'\u25a0:\u25a0'-' if-s,^'M!. r ,-.»\u25a0•-.;\u25a0\u25a0, A
• to' that v^othar .^ r etaoto as* r-tsfhan^tflia >
• y o tin ger *\u25a0 man *no t : - aa i y « t \ reaa on i& •
•or \u2666 dreamed 5 past *Btaxi*~{maA '- bbiii *»Vui *
• brassi ead ? lron.V'' \u25a0;[ <'.'!•'••»?. U
"^iWhatf a* wildj \u25a0'\u25a0? rinrestraiaia I age^ wk« J
; that Jblder| dnV'of ; itoael eartt'a I
fires 1 were * not \u25a0 as ? deep * banked . J as \ they * &
now i ara and * tti6 * kip* ioti tha * horisoa '«
.w'tfrJe .*> coi"stantiy^.\tuasv.-^Tri th v'Tthosa •
iomlnous.rblaelc^oad^BerpJentsl'fredlod-^
\ Ued J-at%iight »which>riataryiheW Jas-al
•' cona \u25a0 tant i i menace i o verJ pygnjyCTmaii. ( the^
; iaSiiy I frightened ; iwhen '.theVpro wlins I
beasts/that ; sooight; -\ tozsl pju '/a 1 morsel *•
, were i monstrous^ and% hldeocsj- and '~ara&- j;
erallyJprotected^by^BklDs iofjsuctf.thlck-V,
nessTtliatf the 'little .*s^Klh!u^an»"{wlth';'
: his {stone J inaccv'^could » not cut?a* vital*
>. wo un<l i tliougli* Ufern : »,wicti \ man\ b!ra-*
fßelf'was iSKrcaiaadiniitaineilraad-'w allied •
twl_^thejcn^«^f/^?r<£B^repo"u]lz^fc!i?
« «p toe . e»d h Isi he ad t'iho t mrer?; t orWaird i
fon >*tha i *ale3-t.| batUlsffTajad^ hnatlwff *nd i 1i 1
C^ttegglnYa^fMMcm^ljinieataKdurliig'
fth«rKtoeid^"day^SaCtt^i^ht!«OTa^i^ ; ;
dii« t^lxad Vnot /yety entltely -lost^ bls"tfeir
aatawe^lMirins^oct'lieyoiid^tbe'clrrle
• o*j Its {ciier* Into; the > primeVai* 1 nlgfe t
;hen*l<mlai^Jtl^*[pathetlc>WiaeiilnV»of
,thej'ayea-rwlileh,ltold' r of ith<*tfc'«»gfr>T»fwg^
foi f ;con.c«ni?rekafaiasP tbofetersal, ' : US'*
: solved i <iuestlon3 — waa: s a barbaric ass
* that! -Mankind :.was * ioi .the. -vloleat
i. tiroes-; of .jjaasJas.v hat .and. asitat^d
. wl;h. rhe heritage of Ceroa desires and
v pas« lons T-rr-hleh. iltr was t trying to adapt
, andtre^ulate- to the;new* social schema
.of, co-operatiGa, .v^osa -need; it: began
.<iimly ,to feel-aßd:h3sltatl2ff!y to<prac
\ll&-,f '-\u25a0 i^..^ \u25a0:-\u25a0\u25a0>\u25a0 •.-;\u25a0: 1- v :\u25a0
/t J/i&e ; uewvereti 'records of j this abor
- 4 i^irai ,'race speik elonuently. of a Ufa
\unrurbed- and • turbulent r taplenteats
«of iwarfar*- l!e scattered ia profusion
; every strauin or tha mounds.
\ althoush tha inatrnd ,buiitler was not so
, warlika as his coosin* of* the interior;
s charred, bones raL the ilarser- mammals
>arV;foond. telllns oXgrim battta fa th«
i depths :of ttha forest. o:> tizelesa. pa.
, tlant tracking through sloosxy } wastes.
• and- of internrtnaMa waiiins bsaWs tha
ijfCbntlaned ea - Next ; Fase-i