Indigenous-Led Research Project Creates Restoration of Historical Landmarks (Shellmounds) in the San Francisco Bay Area

The Alameda Native History Project project presents a map of the three Alameda Shellmounds, as seen by N.C. Nelson in 1907, restored and presented in the present-day landscape.

For the first time ever, the Shellmounds of Alameda are being visualized, and presented as a physical, tangible land feature.

The purpose of this map is to:

  1. Acknowledge that Alameda was a place were local Ohlone communities came to bury their loved ones;
  2. Illustrate the large size and scale of shellmounds, in general;
  3. Visualize a theoretical landscape where the Alameda Shellmounds were preserved;
  4. Fill the gaps made by Alameda Museum’s lack of accurate or meaningful information about the First Alamedans: Ohlone People.

https://alamedanativeart.com/geo/alameda-shellmounds-webmodel/

These restored historical land features, and this 3D map represent a milestone in the Alameda Native History Project’s research.

But this is just a small piece of a larger story developing at the Alameda Native History Project. There’s more.

Stay tuned.

By Gabriel Duncan

Recognized descendant of the Utu Utu Gwaitu Benton Hot Springs Paiute Tribe. Adopted out of his tribe at birth, raised by white people in Alameda, California. Gabriel is the chief researcher, webmaster, graphic designer, catrographer, etc. of Alameda Native Art, and the Alameda Native History Project.