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DISCUSSION OF MOUNDS IN CALIFORNIA

Anonymous

Mr. McCliesney called the attention of thlci A(lademy l zt a conspicuouis

Indian mound existing near Oakland, about two and a alulf miles from Broadway
Station, and about 300 feet from the water's edge. lt was circular in form,
about 175 feet in diameter, with sides sloping from 45 to 50 degrees; it is,
so far as he had examined it, composed of shells and other debris, and was
now covered with shrubbery. The upper surface was somewhat hollowed.

Mr. Dameron referred to certain mounds that he had examined near Ala-
meda Point, and which contained stone implements, shells and bones.

The President stated that this is the condition of nearly all these
mounds; but in many, skeletons are found in a sitting posture.

Mr. D. J. Staples said that he did not deem the little information he
had to offer of much Lmportance, unless the fact of witnessing burials in the
winter of 1849-50 may aid in the solution of the question "Whether the bones
in these mounds are of prehistoric age?"

In the winter of 1849-50, on the Mokelumnie River, fourteen miles north-
east of Stockton, I witnessed the burial of several Indians, three of whom had
died in one night from the effects of bad whiiskey. 'These were placed in the
ground near the tents or houses occupied by the tribe, and buried in sitting
position, surrounded by their personal property, consisting principally4of

beads, trinkets, etc., the graves being made in the depression of the rancheria
where formerly stood a sweat-house. The following year I saw the same ceremony
performed, on one occasion, at the same rancheria, and another time at a place
some miles farther up the river. In my opinion, the reason for the Indians
burying their dead so near the habitations of the living, is found in their
indolence and filthy habits, and in part, perhaps to the desire to often

visit the graves of the departed. A number of mounds which I have examined

on the Upper Sacramento and American Rivers, appeared to have been partially
thrown up with the earth; and I am of the opinion that the Indians designed
them to raise their brush huts above the encroachments of the spring floods.
I feel quite confident that scientific men will not discover anything in the
Indian mounds of California to connect them with a prehistoric age.

The President said, that up north the Indians seldom bury their dead
near their homes. They sometimes put them in trees, sometimes in canoes, and
sometimes in the ground. In Sitka, however, the graves are all very near the
homes of the living.

Mr. Ellis called attention to a large mound in the southern part of the
city. He said perhaps the Indians, being too indolent, had buried their dead

where it was easiest to dig. As to the hollow in the center, they perhaps threw
up dust around the edges to protect themselves from the wind.

Mr. Dameron said that in early days in the Sacramento Valley, they burned
their dead. Perhaps the mounds were built to keep them from the floods'.

Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 5: 202-203, 1874.

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