Archaeological Research Facility

During April and May of 1949, test excavations were made at a largestratified shellmound on the shores of San Francisco Bay. 1 The site,designated in the records of the U.0. Archaeological Survey as 4-Mrn-115,is located on a point of land just north of San Rafael. The property isowned by Mr. W.H. Thomas of San Rafael, whose friendly cooperation in permittingthe excavation is here gratefully acknowledged.The preliminary excavations were made to check the stratigraphic andcultural associations of the mound. At the time, it was hoped that excavationof the site would be continued on a larger scale. However, variousfactors have prevented continuance of the work, and it now appears desirableto place on record the sketchy data obtained from the preliminary tests.The artifact sample is regrettably small, consisting of only a handful ofspecimens, but it appears sufficient to outline the cultural position of thesite. The excavation which has been done to date is of importance for tworeasons: first, a C14 date was obtained which throws some light on theterminal period of the Middle Horizon on San Francisco Bay, and second, aburned house ruin was exposed which merits description because of the rarityof such features in Central California archaeology.