underground history

underground History “On 34th Avenue in the dirt around our pepper tree you’d always ﬁnd things in the ground. It seemed like there was something deeper, and older, and richer that haunted the neighborhood.” — Claudia Albano, remembering playing in her parents’ yard in the 1960s. Her family home on 34th Avenue was taken down to create the park. In 1996, many years after Claudia Albano found things under her parents’ pepper tree, the park was being landscaped with a small tractor. The tractor turned up very unusual material, near the place where Claudia’s house used to be, which is where you are standing now. The tractor driver called Katherine Flynn to look at the material dug up by the machinery. She is an archaeologist, a scientist who studies objects from the past. Have you ever dug in your garden and found interesting things underground? Were they left there long ago? How can you tell? Flynn also found pieces of pottery, dating from the 1830s and 1840s. This pottery came from England, China, France, and Boston, Massachusetts. How did that pottery from so far away get here, 180 years ago? Archaeologist Flynn found an underground area here with many more bones and pieces of pottery, still in place. She covered this original deposit with a protective blanket before they were buried again. Merchant ships came to California from all over the world during the 1830s and 1840s. The Peraltas traded hides and tallow* for luxury goods, such as ﬁne china plates and bowls, and special foods, such as chocolate and sugar. * cow fat In 1999, archaeologist Julia Costello figured out that the place where the artifacts were found was probably an adobe-making pit. Here, the Peralta family and Indian workers made the bricks to build their houses out of the underground layer of clay soil. Later, they threw trash in the empty pit. We now study the things they threw away almost 200 years ago. Cheryl Smith-Lintner, an archaeologist at UC Berkeley, discovered that most of the cattle bones found here were from animals slaughtered for their hides, rather than for food. She has studied the artifacts and written a special report for other scientists—and for you. In April 2004 Trish Fernandez excavated another area, under the new lawn. She found bottles from Fruitvale in the 1870s. They tell another interesting story. Would you like to study objects from the past and learn their stories? Please come and see the artifacts and hear their stories in the Peralta House. THIS IS A CALIFORNIA STATE PROTECTED ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE. ALL EXCAVATION MUST BE DIRECTED BY A CERTIFIED ARCHAEOLOGIST. Assistants to Julia Costello, 1999 dig Katherine Flynn and Bill Roop, 1996 dig Flynn found animal bones, mostly from cows, from the time when the Peralta family still owned this land. Los folletos traducidos al español sobre todos los señalamientos se encuentran en Peralta House. Coù caùc taäp saùch dòch sang tieáng Vieät cho taát caû caùc baûng hieäu taïi Peralta House. Underground cross-section of the Peralta adobe-making pit. Courtesy of Katherine Flynn

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underground History“On 34th Avenue in the dirt around our pepper tree you’d always find things in the

ground. It seemed like there was something deeper, and older, and richer that haunted the neighborhood.” — Claudia Albano, remembering playing in her parents’ yard in the 1960s. Her family home

on 34th Avenue was taken down to create the park.

In 1996, many years after Claudia Albano found

things under her parents’ pepper tree, the park was

being landscaped with a small tractor.

The tractor turned up very unusual material, near the

place where Claudia’s house used to be, which is

where you are standing now.

The tractor driver called Katherine

Flynn to look at the material

dug up by the machinery.

She is an archaeologist,

a scientist who studies

objects from the past.

Have you ever dug in your garden and found interesting things underground?

Were they left there long ago? How can you tell?

Flynn also found pieces of pottery, dating

from the 1830s and 1840s. This pottery came

from England, China, France, and Boston,

Massachusetts. How did that pottery from

so far away get here, 180 years ago?

Archaeologist Flynn found an underground area here

with many more bones and pieces of pottery, still in place.

She covered this original deposit with a protective blanket

before they were buried again.

Merchant ships came to California from all over the world during the 1830s and 1840s. The Peraltas traded hides and tallow* for luxury goods, such as fine china plates and bowls, and special foods, such as chocolate and sugar.

* cow fat

In 1999, archaeologist Julia Costello figured

out that the place where the artifacts were

found was probably an adobe-making pit.

Here, the Peralta family and Indian workers

made the bricks to build their houses out of

the underground layer of clay soil. Later, they

threw trash in the empty pit. We now study the

things they threw away almost 200 years ago.

Cheryl Smith-Lintner, an archaeologist at UC Berkeley, discovered that

most of the cattle bones found here were from animals slaughtered for

their hides, rather than for food. She has studied the artifacts and written