EXCAVATIONS AT AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE NEAR LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA Donald F. McGeein Archaeological investigations in interior Alameda County have been relatively few in number and lim- ited in scope. Consequently, knowledge of the region's prehistoric human past remains extremely limited. Some useful information on the nature of aboriginal usage of this little-known section of California was obtained from excavations conducted at the McCoy Site (CA-Ala-28) in the 1950s. So-named because it occupied a portion of a ranch owned by James McCoy, the archaeological site is located about four and one-half miles southeast of Livermore. It is not in the Livermore Valley proper but lies at the base of adjoining hills at an elevation of approximately 725 feet above sea level. Originally designated as Arroyo Mocho 4, the site was recorded by Donald W. Lathrap and Michael Harner while car- rying on a surface survey of the Livermore area for the University of California Archaeological Survey in 1950. Excavation was undertaken in 1955-56 at the suggestion of Alfred Elsasser, then archaeologist for the survey. The McCoy Site Covering an area of about 105 x 308 feet, the McCoy Site lies atop a flat, gravel stream terrace, eight to ten feet above the bottom of Arroyo Mocho, a wet- weather stream that flows northwesterly out of the hills to become lost in a shallow lake or swamp near Pleasanton (Thompson and West 1978:17). Though slightly higher near its center than at the borders, the site can hardly be called a mound. Nine shallow (10-18 inch-deep) depressions, tentatively identified as house pits dot its surface. Short grasses of several kinds cover most of the ground, with a small grove of oaks at the southern end. Buckeyes, toyon and a few oaks grow along the stream's banks; wil- lows, sycamores, and brush line its bed. Excavations Investigations at the McCoy Site began on Octo- ber 22, 1955 and continued each weekend (unless in- terrupted by rain) until March 18, 1956. A second season of work commenced on November 10, 1956 and lasted until April 7, 1957. The crew consisted of the writer and his brother, Douglas J. McGeein. Before any excavating took place, the entire site plus a fair-sized section beyond its boundaries was mapped and laid out in five-foot squares (Map 1). A block of 25 five-foot units at the center (which in- cluded a supposed house pit) was initially explored (Map 2). A different strategy was followed during the second season. Two parallel rows of eleven squares, each spaced ten feet apart, across the long axis were explored. Four additional units were exca- vated so as to include a second assumed house pit. Soil in each square was removed in arbitrary six-inch levels. The digging was done with trowel and shovel. Occasionally a pick or geological hammer was needed to loosen a patch of hardened earth. Gray-brown in color, the occupational layer con- tained fire-cracked rock, ash, charcoal, and other do- mestic debris intermixed with stream ten-ace gravel and water worn stones. The deposit proved to be rela- tively shallow; ranging from 12 to slightly over 34 inches in depth. Generally it was quite compact, par- ticularly near the surface. Rodent burrows honey- combed the soil. Artifacts Considering the amount of earth removed (approxi- mately 96.5 cubic yards), the artifact yield was very small. Only 53 specimens, three of them surface finds, were recovered in the first season. The second season's digging proved more productive, producing 85 objects. Though neither abundant nor spectacular, the artifacts are quite diverse and provide a good sampling of the kinds of things made and used by McCoy's aborigi- nal inhabitants. Bone tools make up a surprisingly high proportion of the finds. Predominant are awls, represented by 4 intact and 18 fragmentary specimens. Apparently all SITE NEAR LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA manufactured from deer leg bones, the tools ex- hibit well-smoothed and well-polished surfaces. One whole awl consists of a deer cannon bone with a split head. It is 117 mm long. The other three are splinter awls, fashioned from pieces of deer leg bone. They vary in length from 53 to 107.5 mm. Among the 18 fragments are a cannon bone awl lacking its handle, one handle end and 13 central or edge pieces. A deer metatarsal worked to a sharp point may also have seen service as an awl. Less likely is a sharp- ened piece from a fairly large mammal bone. With a length of only 53 mm., it seems much too short to have functioned effectively as an awl. Four deer or elk bone tools with blunt rounded ends appear to have been awls put to secondary use after their sharp points had become dulled or broken away. They could have functioned as gouges, smoothers or flakers (Gifford 1940:170-171, 207). A coyote (?) car- pal or metapodial ground to a blunt point may also have served one of these purposes. One more or less complete and four broken tools are made from deer shoulder blades. Often called "scapula saws," each has one notched or toothed edge. The proximal end of the bone evidently served as a handle. The nearly whole specimen is 167 mm long and 34 mm wide. Scapula tools of this sort have been variously identified as saws, fleshers, bark-shredders or grass-cutters (Bennyhoff 1953:268-269; Fredrickson 1968:48; Gifford 1940:172). A few artifacts manufactured from bird bone are among the finds. Included is a single-holed whistle, with both ends snapped off, leaving them ragged and unfinished. Not far from the middle is 2 by 3 mm notch. No plug of asphalt or pitch was found inside. Fashioned from the ulna of a small bird, the whistle is 44.2 mm long and 9 mm in diameter. A second whistle, broken across at the stop, is made from a larger, stur- dier (7.2 mm diameter) bird bone. Both ends of a long (107 mm) bird bone tube have been cut and smoothed. Striations, apparently from a scraping tool, appear on all surfaces. Two short (20- 23 mm) tubular sections of a wing bone are probably beads or bead "blanks." Several worked scraps of bird bone are apparently manufacturing waste. Stone implements for processing acorns and other plant foods are well represented among the finds. Gen- erally speaking, these are simple in design with little care lavished on them. Eight flat sandstone slabs with small, shallow grinding cavities at the center are prob- ably hopper mortars, though no signs of an adhesive for attachment of the basketry hopper can be detected around any of the cavities. None of the grinding holes appear to have been purposely pecked. Rather, they seem to have developed from pounding with a stone pestle. These mortars vary considerably in form and size. Evidently any suitable flattened slab was picked up and put to use. Bowl-like mortars are represented by two wall pieces. The first is from a fairly large vessel made from a stream boulder. No effort seems to have been made to alter the boulder's surface. A section of the wall of what may have been a shaped mortar shows pecking scars and smoothing on the outside surface. Twenty-six pieces of a large, well-shaped mortar of gray, vesicular basalt were found together. Most of the pieces are reddish-brown from exposure to fire. A partial reconstruction indicates that the vessel was flat- bottomed, with sloping sides and presumably flattened rim. Quite large, it must have stood about 31 cm high and had a top diameter of around 39 cm. In all likeli- hood, this fine mortar served a special purpose. In form and size, it is like ceremonial stone vessels in which coastal California native peoples crushed and steeped jimsonweed roots to produce a strong hallu- cinogenic drink administered to boys during a puberty rite (Kroeber 1925:668-673). Four whole and seventeen fragmentary pestles were found. Three basic types are recognizable. Most common, with nine examples, are water worn cobbles with a few peck marks visible on their sides. Eight pieces are parts of shaped pestles with parallel sides and grinding surfaces at both ends. The third type, with four examples, is long and tapered with its great- est diameter at the base. Grinding surfaces on almost all of the implements are tabular. Tough fine-grained sandstone cobbles were most often selected for pestles. Four are of a hard microcrystalline rock. The whole pestles have lengths of 227 to 290 mm. One complete handstone and a part of a possible second incomplete specimen are among the finds. Slightly "out of round," the intact specimen varies in diameter from 73.5 to 83 mm and has a thickness of 45.5 mm. A broken stream cobble shows wear on one flat surface, possibly resulting from rubbing back McGeein 103 104FENENGA VOLUME --O *- 104 SITE NEAR LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA I'A' Z Vf X W.V U Ti t Q P Of 'M L It ofJ a M IShPI C 'I A .-- r------ ------ ____. -. . i. Xi zi.I . I. - 717 / 1* / . .. -. - - . . ..-.. .f..- 1. .. .. -- I. 4----- I.V. - .1.- mm'. K   .. --I 0 J -- - -r 11111. 4- --____ .4.----4 --I-. _ -- TjI -- . . . -. - -- 7LiZiiL .?......L - il7TT7E .-- - -f ___ 4 .R KJ2Z McGeein 105 2 .;0 I clJ -J In- 0 0$ .It 4u FENENGA VOLUME and forth on a mill. Both specimens are of sandstone. A roughly rectangular slab of tough, fme-grained sand- stone, broken in half, may well be an incipient millingstone. A natural shallow depression covers most of one surface. Batter marks at both ends and along the sides suggests that the slab was being shaped when it broke in half. A triangular section from near one end of a chunk of sandstone is slightly worn from usage. However, its small size (ca. 95 mm across) argues against its being part of a millingstone. Chipped stone artifacts are relatively few in num- ber. Nine of the fourteen recovered are projectile points of a size and weight that suggests they once tipped arrows. Seven of them have straight or slightly out-curved sides and rounded to straight bases. Deep, squared serrations line the borders of six. Dimensions are: length 30-35 mm, width 12-15 mm, and thick- ness 3-5 mm. Two other small points are corner- notched with short, narrow stems. Somewhat smaller than the others, they are 21 and 24 mm in length and 10-15 mm wide. Nine of the small points are made of obsidian; one is of a material tentatively identified as chalcedony. Chances are that none of them was manufactured at the site, for only ten to twelve tiny waste flakes oc- curred in the archaeological deposit, and these could easily have resulted from repairing damaged points or resharpening dulled ones. Considerably larger and thicker is a missile tip fash- ioned from banded, mottled chert. Rather coarsely flaked, it has corner notches and an expanded, rounded base. With a length of 56 mm, a width of 20 mm and a thickness of 10 mm, the point is of a size suitable for arming a dart or spear. Two knife blades are in the collection. The first, missing a bit of its tip and base, has nearly straight sides and a slightly rounded base. Of obsidian, the blade is 68.5 mm long, 26 mm wide and 7 mm thick. A shorter knife is made of petrified wood, light buff and white in color. The forepart is well flaked, whereas the remainder is less finished. It can be surmised that this part was inserted in a haft. A reamer and a possible drill are the only other stone artifacts shaped by chipping. An irregularly shaped obsidian artifact is classified as a "reamer," because it appears to be too dull-and-blunt-pointed to be a drill. It probably was used to ream out or enlarge already drilled holes. Its edges exhibit considerable wear. The specimen is 35.5 mm long, 11.1 mm wide and 6.5 mm thick. Provisionally identified as a drill, an obsidian artifact has a rounded base like the arrow- head and a short, rather dull point. It may well be a broken projectile point converted into a drill. Eleven stone flakes show "use chipping" along one or more edges, probably from use as scraping tools. The flakes vary considerably in size and thickness, with the largest measuring 53 x 26 x 15 mm; the small- est 21 x 13 x 6 mm. These makeshift tools are of various materials: five are chert, three chalcedony; one each of obsidian, quartzite and petrified wood. Only three hammerstones were collected. Others possibly went undetected among the many stream cobbles scattered throughout the archaeological de- posit. Of dense sandstone, the three hammers are water worn stones with marks of battering (faint on one) at the ends. All three are of a size easily grasped in one hand. The scarcity of hammerstones is puzzling. Normally, simple tools of this sort, utilized in a vari- ety of pounding and abrading tasks, figure prominently in California Indian tool kits. Five Olivella beads, and two of clamshell, were unearthed. Slightly cupped, four of the Olivella beads are made from sections cut from the body whorl. Cir- cular and centrally perforated, they are 8-13 mm in diameter. A fifth is spire-lopped, with the upper part of the shell ground down to the main whorl. The two clamshell beads are disks, 3.9 and 5.5 mm in diam- eter. Three fragmentary abalone shell pendants were also found. Long and slender, the first is a flat, curved rim piece drilled near its upper end. Enough remains of a second pendant to demonstrate that it had straight sides and a rounded top with a hole bored through near the upper edge. The third specimen consists of a piece of abalone shell bearing a partially drilled hole. Perhaps intended as an inset, a curved scrap of abalone shell has fine incised lines spaced less than a millimeter apart running across its surface. The only other shell item is a rounded and smoothed bit of fresh- water mussel shell that apparently broke while it was shaped into a bead or pendant. Faunal Remains Animal bone was by no means plentiful in the ar- chaeological deposit. Most of what was found con- sisted of splinters or tiny scraps. As a rule, only iden- tifiable pieces were saved. However, to gain a mea- sure of the average amount present, all bits and pieces 106 SITE NEAR LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA were gathered from two five-by-five-foot squares. Each yielded enough to fill a teacup. Bones of the following mammals were identified: Antelope Deer Cottontail or Brush Rabbit Jackrabbit Badger Coyote Wildcat Ground Squirrel Pocket Gopher Mouse Ground squirrel and gopher bones comprised well over one-third of the total. Undoubtedly, these repre- sent remains of creatures that died in their burrows. Antelope and deer made up 25Y% of the lot, coyote half as much, and rabbits a little less than 10%. Al- though parts of at least four coyote skulls were found, the only other body parts were a small fragment of pelvis and possible tibia. The preponderance of skull bones suggests that coyotes were skinned at the kill sites and their pelts with the heads attached carried back to camp. Scarcely any bird bones were unearthed. The bones resemble those of ducks or small birds, but have not been identified as to species. Rather surprisingly, bones of at least five kinds of fish-Sacramento Sucker, Hardhead, Sacramento Perch, Squawfish and White Sturgeon-were present in the midden. Just where and how McCoy's inhabitants acquired fish is not immediately apparent. Other faunal remains con- sisted of bits of freshwater mussel shell, two pond turtle bones and a pincer from a small crab. House Remains Two of the eight assumed house pits (Numbers 1 and 8) were partially explored. The northern half of House 8 was cleared, exposing a hard surface, judged to be the floor. Encountered 19-20 inches down be- neath a layer of sand, gravel, charcoal and occasional scraps of calcined bone, the hardened surface appears to have been developed by tramping. Slightly con- cave, it measures approximately 21 x 24 feet. On or near the floor's surface lay a part of a bowl mortar and half of a slab mortar. Remains of cooking and/or heating fires, surrounded by red-brown burned earth, occurred in two places. From all appearances, a 6 inch deep mass of pure white ash was all that was left of a quick-burning fire built directly on the floor. A pit, 16-17 inches deep, was filled with soft, light gray ash mixed with flecks of charcoal and burned gravel. At the almost exact center of the floor was an apparent posthole, 3.5-4.5 inches in diameter. Its depth could not be determined; a midden-filled pit lay just below it. The pit was filled with soft soil holding a high pro- portion of ash and charcoal, a few scraps of mammal bone and two or three bits of fishbone. In it lay the obsidian knife blade and large projectile point. Possi- bly the hole served as a storage pit before being filled in with fire residue and domestic refuse. Only a small portion of House 1 was investigated. Oval in outline and rather steeply basined, the depres- sion measured 16 x 35 feet. Evidently the structure that once stood above had not been lived in long enough for a solid floor to develop. An irregular mid- den-filled hole, which once held a post, measured eight inches across and extended 14-15 inches downward. Fires had been built in a shallow pit. Several artifacts occurred within the house area. Included were two clamshell beads, a bone awl, a bone tube and two ar- row points. Three spots where the cooking fires had been built outside of the house depressions were exposed. None constituted a formal, rock-encircled fireplace. Six to eight inches below the surface, a huge lens of fire- cracked rock, gravel, charcoal and ash covered the southeast corner of the area excavated during the first season. Human Remains Two graves were uncovered during the first season's digging and one more in the second season. All three contained skeletal remains of infants, who died at birth or shortly thereafter. Their bodies appar- ently were interred with little ceremony and no ac- companying offerings. Burial 1 Scattered infant bones, including the frontal bone, a humerus, a portion of a vertebra and a scapula lay scattered over several square feet at a depth of 20-23 inches below the surface. Evidently burrowing ro- dents had pushed about the remains. McGeein 107 FENENGA VOLUME Burial 2 A complete infant skeleton, lying on its left side in a moderately tight-flexed position with the skull ori- entated to the north, rested in a grave some 32 inches below ground level. Directly over the skull lay a 35 x 24 inch triangular piece of stone. Burial 3 Dispersed bones of a third infant lay on gravel, 35 inches down in the deposit. A tibia, radius (?), scapula, rib fragment, a toe or finger bone and a few skull frag- ments were present. Rodent action again appears to have been the cause of the skeleton's disarrangement. Isolated Bones Isolated bones of at least two more infants were found. Included were a tibia, a radius and a tiny rib. It is noteworthy that all the skeletal remains are those of infants. Concluding Remarks A few general conclusions about the McCoy Site and the nature of its usage by its onetime inhabitants can be drawn from the archaeological evidence gath- ered during two seasons of digging. The shallowness of the occupational deposit combined with an overall paucity of artifacts implies transient residence rather than year-round settlement. Quite likely, the locality served as a seasonal camping place, returned to, if not yearly, at least fairly frequently. It is likely that small groups of people came here when the acorn crop was ready for harvesting. At least four species of acorn- bearing oaks grow in the vicinity, assuring a plentiful supply of this dietary staple. Projectile points, along with a scattering of animal bones, indicate that some hunting took place. The site's residents either went on fishing expeditions or obtained fish through trade. The seasonal occupants of the site came lightly bur- dened and improvised many of the implements at the site. All things considered, there is good reason to sup- pose that the McCoy Site was occupied rather late in the prehistoric period. In its essentials, the cultural assemblage resembles that characteristic of the San Francisco Bay area Late Horizon (Beardsley 1948:16- 20), generally assumed to have begun around A.D. 500, possibly a century or two earlier (Moratto 1984: Figure 5.7). A number of cultural traits are shared with the Alamo Site in nearby Contra Costa County, which is assigned to this time span (Fredrickson 1968). Held in common are: 1. Obsidian arrowpoints with deep angular serrations 2. Sandstone slab (hopper) mortars 3. Scapula saws 4. Numerous bone awls 5. Cupped Olivella beads 6. Clamshell disk beads 7. Few millingstone and handstones 8. Few hammerstones 9. Burned flat-bottomed mortars The Alamo assemblage is richer in content than McCoy's, implying more intensive occupation. Since linguistic evidence suggests that Costanoan-speakers entered the San Francisco Bay region around A.D. 500 (Levy 1978:486), it seems probable that McCoy's sea- sonal visitors spoke a Costanoan language. They may well have been members of the Leucha tribelet, which held the land southeast of Livermore, including Ar- royo Mocho (Milliken 1994:172). Missionization of the local Indians may well have brought seasonal stays at McCoy to an end. Baptis- mal records show that Leuchas went to Mission Santa Clara in 1806 and 1807; a smaller number were bap- tized at Mission San Jose in the same two-year period (Milliken 1994:172). Note This is a condensed, revised version of two reports (one for each season of digging) prepared by the writer and his brother. Copies of the two are on file at the Archaeological Research Facility, University of Cali- fornia Berkeley, California State Department of Parks and Recreation in Sacramento and at Livermore Heri- tage Museum. The artifact collection is housed in the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology in Ber- keley. Acknowledgements Special thanks are due to James McCoy for allow- ing the excavations to be carried out on his land. W. I. Follett, Curator of Fishes at the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, generously identified the fish remains. Robert Orr, also of the Academy of Sci- ences' staff, and Seth Benson of the Museum of Zool- ogy, identified most of the mammal bones. Francis A. Riddell, then Assistant Archaeologist of the Uni- versity of California, assisted in many ways. William C. Mueller aided in the map work, and Adan E. 108 SITE NEAR LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA Treganza gave help and advice concerning hopper mortars. References Cited Beardsley, Richard K. 1948 Culture Sequences in Central California Archaeology. American Antiquity 14(1): 1-28. Bennyhoff, James A. 1953 Bone, Antler and Claws. University of CaliforniaAnthropological Records 12(6):265- 272. Berkeley and Los Angeles. Davis, James T. 1960 The Archaeology of the Fernandez Site, a San Francisco Bay Region Shellmound. Uni- versity of California Archaeological Survey Reports 49:11-52. Berkeley. Fredrickson, David A. 1968 Archaeological Investigations at CCO- 30 Near Alamo, Contra Costa County, Califor- nia. Center for Archaeological Research at Davis Publication 1. Davis. Gifford, Edward W. 1940 California Bone Artifacts. University of California Anthropological Records 3(2). Ber- keley and Los Angeles. Kroeber, Alfred L. 1925 Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 78. Washington D.C. Levy, Richard 1978 Costanoan. In California, edited by Rob- ert F. Heizer, pp. 485-495, Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 8, W. C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Wash- ington D.C. Milliken, Randal 1994 The Costanoan-Yokuts Language Boundary in the Contact Period. Pages 165- 181 in The Ohlone Past and Present compiled and edited by Lowell John Bean. Ballena Press. Menlo Park, Ca. Moratto, Michael J. 1984 California Archaeology. Academic Press, Orlando. Thompson, Thomas H., and Albert A. West 1878 Historical Atlas Map of Alameda County, California. Thompson and West, Oak- land. Reprinted 1976. Valley Publishing, Fresno. 109 McGeein