UC Berkeley Press Release

Assessment of Memorial Stadium site by independent archaeologists

6 September 2007

The following is an assessment of the historical and archaeological record of the Memorial Stadium site, written by independent archaeologist James W. Allen of William Self Associates, Inc., East Bay consultants in archaeology and historic preservation. The letter concludes that "there is no verifiable evidence for a burial ground at the site of [California Memorial] Stadium," although remains of a one person, likely of Native American origin, were found at the site during construction of the stadium in January 1923.

I met with our staff person who is conducting the research on the construction of the stadium and the encounter with the burial(s). Here's what we know so far:

The site record for CA-ALA-23, the site beneath Memorial Stadium, states that there were burials removed during construction of the Stadium. The information on the site record was obtained from an article that appeared in the San Francisco Examiner of June 21, 1925, which was transcribed and appended to the CA-ALA-308 site card (burials and midden discovered in Faculty Glade). The article stated that "several" burials were located during the building of the Stadium.

However, a second newspaper article was attached to the CA-ALA-23 site card. It was published 2½ years earlier than the transcribed article on the site card. It had appeared in the Berkeley, Calif., Californian on January 17, 1923. The article states that workmen excavating for construction of the Memorial Stadium had found skeletal remains the day prior, approximately 2 feet below ground surface. The remains represented an almost complete skeleton, which Professor A.L. Kroeber and Professor R. H. Lowie identified as that of an adult male Native American who died sometime between the ages of 25 and 50 years. The article finishes by stating that "It is not likely that any large Indian burial ground will be unearthed, as the excavation for the stadium progresses, but it is probable that a number of other skeletons will be discovered near where this first one was found'. It must be noted that it is not specified if these are the opinions of Kroeber and/or Lowie or if they are those of the unidentified author of the article.

The only museum records (the accession record and card catalogue listing) we have found are for the aforementioned single Native American male burial at this site.

In summary, there is no verifiable evidence for a burial ground at the site of the Stadium; however the burial that was located there does appear to be of Native American origin.  Subsequent completion of the construction-related excavation confirmed Kroeber's (or Lowie's) supposition that the area was not an Indian burial ground, and disproved the opinion that "a number of other skeletons will be found" — since no others were encountered during construction excavations that we know of, based on the fact that only the single burial described in the 1923 article was catalogued and accessioned into the museum collection. It is highly unlikely that Kroeber and/or Lowie would not also have catalogued and accessioned other burials if they had been encountered at the stadium construction site after January 16, 1923.

It appears to me that the "burials" referenced in the 1925 article are a conflation of the single burial found at the stadium site in 1923 and the several burials found earlier and again in 1925 at the Faculty Glade site (ALA-308.)

James M. Allan, Ph.D., RPA
Principal, William Self Associates, Inc.