[63] The old Indian camping place at Knight’s Landing (on the Fair Ranch), at the mouth of a tributary of the Sacramento river, was inhabited, according to authentic information (T. Coleman), as late as 1849 by 150-200 “Digger” Indians. They departed in 1865. The shells, of which only a small number have been found, are of Mytilus. A similar mound in Colusa county, 20 miles to the northwest, is still populated by Indians. The Wintun Indians are still accustomed to obtain shells for food by diving into the river. This caused Powers (l. c., p. 233) to surmise that a race somewhat like theirs might have erected these shellmounds.
Cultural Stages Represented.
If we attribute to the shellmound an age representing many centuries, cultural differences should be indicated in the successive strata. For it is impossible that the cultural state of one and the same place should have remained stationary for many centuries and, even judging by the mass alone, the mound could not have reached such a height in less than a considerable number of centuries. In attempting to discover possible cultural differences we unfortunately meet with several difficulties. The action of the climate has destroyed in all the strata the objects which consisted of perishable materials. Only the more resistant things remained. But the perishable materials are frequently those in which the decorative sense of man expresses itself most easily, and in which cultural differences are most distinctly shown. A further unfortunate circumstance arises from the general trend to simplicity and primitiveness of the tools of the inhabitants of all shellmounds. So that the visible cultural differences which would generally appear with a people of changing forms of life are imperfectly expressed. Finally, many objects give only partial evidence as regards form and use, for they were often mutilated previous to their deposition in the strata.
In examining the implements of successive layers of the mound we find that awls and certain knife-like tools found in nearly all known shellmounds are met with in all of the strata, while ornaments consisting of Haliotis shells and other simple objects of decoration made of shells, corresponding in general appearance to those which are still in use among the Indians, are met with in the graves of the VIth to the VIIIth strata. In the deepest strata, however, there have not been found any bone beads, ornaments of Haliotis shells, or saw-like tools such as are known above the VIIIth stratum. Thus there is some support for the suggestion that cultural differences are expressed in the history of the mound.
One of the most striking differences indicating a change in the character of the people whose cultural stages are represented in the successive strata is found in the different forms of burial. The use of cremation appears for the first time in the 4th stratum and extends to the upper, completely undisturbed stratum (II). In the IVth stratum out of 11 bone awls only 4 are calcined, while in the IInd stratum 44 in 61. In the latter the great amount of ash intermingled with calcined human bones becomes very noticeable. Powers relates in his great work on the California tribes that most of them practiced cremation, and concerning the Karok, Yurok, and Wintun he relates that they bury their dead, while the Yokuts under certain circumstances make use of both customs. The inhabitants of the upper strata of the mound may undoubtedly be assumed to have followed the customs of the majority of modern Californian tribes in the disposal of their dead. Contrasting with this custom is burial in the ground. In this connection interesting evidence is furnished by the strata of this mound: here at least cremation was preceded by interment. In strata IV to VIII of this mound we find this custom prevailing, and we are forced to assume it to have been practiced by the population living on the mound during the time from the deposition of the lower part of stratum VIII to that of the middle of stratum V. In their manner of burial the knees were drawn up, resting upon the side, resembling on the whole the mode of burial in the shellmounds of Santa Barbara county in California, and in those found in Oregon. Instead of suggesting that the mode of burial is a recent one, the findings in the lower strata of the mound at Emeryville might hint that possibly the shellmounds of Southern California and Oregon are older than is at present believed. The Yokuts likewise bury their dead with drawn up knees, but whether lying on one side is not mentioned. Also of the Wintun detailed information as regards their mode of burial is missing. But even if a majority of tribes should still practice the form which prevailed in the middle strata of the mound, this would not change the fact that the whole mode of burial at this place designates an earlier ethnical stage. The manner in which the inhabitants of the lower strata of the mound—say from the bottom portions of the VIIIth stratum to the bottom of the Xth—buried their dead is not known, because no graves or other evidences of burial appear in them. It is not impossible that their mode of burial differed again from the two kinds of burial found in the strata lying above.
Another striking difference between the upper and lower layers is found in the characteristic implements of the strata. This difference is best represented by a comparative table. In order to understand this better, we give the relative volume of earth moved for each stratum. In the table the volume of the VIIth stratum (about 100 cubic feet) has been taken as the unit. Bracketed figures in the different columns denote the number of objects which might have been expected as the proportional content of one of the middle strata. In the last two columns the contents of the IXth stratum have for practical purposes been used as a basis.
| Rubbed* | Flaked stone | Rough | ||||
| Relative | stone | implements | Knife-like | awl-like | ||
| Layers | Contents | implements | Obsidians | excepting obsidian | implements | implements |
| I | 5.5 | 2[5] | 2[2] | — | [6] | —[8] | ||
| II | 10.6 | 24[10] | 11[5] | 6[10] | [13] | —[16] | ||
| III | 7.3 | 3[7] | 4[4] | 4[7] | [9] | —[11] | ||
| IV | 4.2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | [5] | —[6] | ||
| V | 3.4 | 4[4] | 1[1] | 5(2) | [4] | —[5] | ||
| VI | 1.5 | —[1] | —[1] | 3 | [1] | —[2] | ||
| VII | 1 | —[1] | 2[1] | 6 | } | [1] | —[1] | |
| *VII | 2.2 | —[2] | —[-] | 9 | } | 1[2] | } | [11] |
| VIII | 7.4 | 1[7] | 1[4] | 24 | }28 | 1[9] | }5 | —[3] |
| IX | 3.3 | —[3] | 1[2] | 62 | } | 4[4] | 5[5] | |
| X | 1.8 | —[2] | —[1] | 17 | } | —[2] | 4[3] |
*Except mortars and pestles.
Parentheses in the 4th column denote the number of chipped stones which may actually be assumed as tools.