Industrialization = construction work = skeletons! Yes, there may be one or two downsides to the ever-expanding concrete jungles spotting the earth, but one definite upside is the plethora of ancient inhabitants consistently being unearthed. Just last week, construction workers for San Francisco’s new Transit Terminal discovered a skeleton about 60 feet underground—and it stands to inform us about how rising water levels changed life in the Bay Area over thousands of years (a relevant issue these days).
The skeleton has not yet been dated, but another skeleton found 15 feet lower in 1968 was estimated to be 5,000 years old. Both were Native Americans who lived in a San Francisco very different from today.
You see, until around 10,000 years ago, the iconic bay was actually a valley with a river running through it, which exited to the ocean at a waterfall (now where the Golden Gate Bridge is). But as the ice age ended and sea levels rose, ocean water flooded the valley. Archeologists conjecture that Native American settlements were situated by the river, and had to pull back to drier ground every generation or so as the water trickled in. They hope analysis of the new skeleton will shed more light on the geography and subsistence of inhabitants during this phase.
Ready for a touch of intrigue? A Spanish missionary in the early 1800s recorded that the local Ohlone tribe told a story that claimed San Francisco’s port was an oak grove long ago. Could this be a historically-accurate oral tradition that lasted nearly 10,000 years and predates written language? Unclear, but we like to think so.
(Image: commons.wikimedia.org)
