Shellmound Memorial

The Emeryville Shellmound Memorial marks the site of a former Ohlone village and burial ground. The native Ohlone constructed the shellmound to keep villages above high tides and serve as long-term repositories for the dead. Shellmounds are not specific to the Ohlone, but are found all over the planet where people lived by shorelines full of shellfish. The 40-foot shellmound was made mostly of clams, mussels, and oyster shells. For the Ohlone, this shellmound is not just a midden or refuse heap as described by archaeologists but a sacred burial site. Partially leveled in 1874 to make way for an amusement park, archaeologists excavated the site and discovered more than 700 indigenous graves. The site was razed in the 1990s to make way for a paint plant. In 2002, Emeryville built the Bay Street Shopping mall on this location. More remains were found throughout these phases of development and taken to landfills, incinerated, or reburied. Every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving, activists gather at the Emeryville shellmound to protest and create awareness about the burial ground underneath.