Petterson Mound - Term Paper Example

C. (Davis & Treganza 1959: 5). A mound, which is known as an ancient Indian habitation site, appeared on the early map of San Francisco Bay area at location Ala-328. However, archeologists usually fail to establish whether the map location represents site Ala-328 or Ala-329 (Davis & Treganza 1959: 6). The Patterson Mound No. 1 is located on a piece of land owned by Mr. William Patterson, in Alameda County, due south of Alvarado town. The size of Mound is approximately 350 feet along the north-south axis, and it is ovoid in shape (Davis & Treganza 1959: 4).

It has a known depth of 13 feet near its center. This piece of land extends from a flat alluvial plain, which is six feet above the sea level, and reaches a height of 15 and half feet above the sea-level (Davis & Treganza 1959: 4). The previous height above the sea-level has been significantly reduced due to the intensive cultivation, rodent activity, root crops and farm machinery. Patterson Mound covers an area that is slightly different from other sites along the shore of San Francisco because of its relatively low content of soft-shelled clams (oyster), which is believed to be as a result of marshy slough (Davis & Treganza 1959: 4). . Several burials and artifacts such as eye bone needle, thatching needle, fiber-strippers, antler digging tool, antler haft, pitted cobble, pecking stone, abrading stone, mussel shell spoon, whale bone object, sharpened elk ulna, drilled canine tibia, backed clay, scrapers and choppers were excavated from the site since 1935 (Davis & Treganza 1959: 27, 38).

For instance, about 1000 artifacts and 169 burials have been recovered, with only about 20 percent of the site having been excavated (Davis & Treganza 1959: 12). Moreover, about 2000 artifacts and 260 burials had been recovered, by 1958, with only 25 percent of the site having been dug. Research Question This research method aims at establishing the correlation between material remains such as shells, stones, bones, and other preserved remains, and human migrations, culture growth and change, environmental impacts on cultural growth, and other aspects of human activities around San Francisco Bay area at location Ala-328.

Data Required for Analysis Measurements: it is necessary to quantify different parameters of artifacts such as length, width, height, density, mass, and weight, including texture and color to collect valid information about burials and artifacts (Ferguson 2010: 12). Additionally, measurements within the Patterson Mound area are also significant, and it include calculating areas of separated fields, strata heights in accordance to the sea level (HASL) and relating HASL to retrieved artifacts. Association: This information is of significance in understanding cultural interactions within a given archeological site because it related the excavated artifacts to its environment (Ferguson 2010: 12).

It also involves the classification of artifacts into different groups based on their