Bay Area archaeologists dig deep to uncover San Francisco’s hidden history

SAN FRANCISCO — Bay Space archaeologists are uncovering San Francisco’s hidden previous on the largest public archaeological excavation west of the Mississippi.

With the recognition of Indiana Jones, everybody has change into accustomed to the concept of archaeology, however beneath the floor, archaeology has fairly a bit extra to supply.

“The most important misconceptions folks have about archaeology is that we’re searching for treasures or gems or gold,” archaeologist Kari Jones shares. “Archaeologists are searching for proof or stays of individuals. We do not dig dinosaurs.”

“What we’re taking a look at is the every day lives of individuals, what they ate, what they wore, what their dwelling circumstances had been,” archaeologist specialist Georgie Deantoni provides. “Individuals actually get excited to grasp that we’re telling tales of individuals from 200 years in the past.”

An much more attention-grabbing truth includes the place their tales originate from.

“When they give thought to archaeology, they give thought to Europe, they give thought to Egypt. Individuals do not even know that there’s archaeology in america. Not to mention San Francisco,” Jones declares.

San Francisco has a hidden previous that lies untouched beneath the grounds of San Francisco’s Presidio, greatest often called the longest, steady, working military put up in america.

“We frequently take into consideration San Francisco starting with the gold rush, however I am right here to indicate those that there was San Francisco lengthy earlier than the gold rush,” Jones explains.

El Presidio de San Francisco can reveal lots about San Francisco’s previous. Sitting by the principle dig web site, Jones discusses the realm’s historical past.

“The place that we are actually was first ‘Yelamu’ so that is the Ramaytush Ohlone title for this place, after which, the Spanish got here as much as colonize,” Jones reveals. “It turned Spain, after which it was transferred to Mexico after which, it turned a US military put up within the 1840s.”

The archaeological web site of El Presidio was first found in 1994.

“Because the US military was leaving, they had been eradicating an underground storage tank they usually found foundations of Spanish colonial buildings,” Jones says.

In 2014, the Presidio Belief was based and started the long-term, sluggish, public excavation of El Presidio de San Francisco, the biggest public archaeological venture west of the Mississippi.

“Most of what we discover are stays of the buildings, of the fort, after which the trash that folks left behind from the fort,” Jones states.

“So, we will take a look at folks’s trash and perceive lots about their every day life,” Deantoni provides.

“That is the gold, that is the treasure we need to discover is trash pits,” archaeologist specialist Edward De Haro says with a smile.

Excavation of the positioning runs for six months of yearly. Artifacts collected there discover their technique to a state-of-the-art archaeology lab on web site the place they’re photographed, labeled, documented, and saved for future researchers.

“We estimate that solely 2-3 % of the positioning has been excavated,” Jones shares. “There’s loads of tales to inform within the Presidio. We’re going to hold telling them for a lot of, a few years sooner or later.”

Anybody is welcome to go to or volunteer to assist with the method.

For extra info, go to right here.

To study extra in regards to the Presidio’s Worldwide Archaeology Day, go right here.