Did you know...

Archeology Digs Uncover Indian Villages

As they say in the real estate business, “never underestimate the value of a good location.”

That may be the case of the Rancho Olompali which has been the center of some attention recently.

Olompali, for centuries the site of a large Indian political unit, now belongs to the federal government and has been included as a part of the new Olompali State Park. Novato resident Charles Slaymaker doesn’t care who owns what so long as the new state owners are prepared to let him use their land.

Mr. Slaymaker has perhaps the most suitable need for developing areas in Marin County these days since he and his students are more and more in the news these days. Slaymaker, a student of archeology at the University of San Francisco, is beginning to uncover portions of Indian villages wherever land is being cleared for subdivision.

As he is prone to say as rehab homes in Marin contain a rash of pre-missionary architecture, the more subdivisions the county can approve the better off he and his students will be.

Olompali is a very low priority area for the traditional excavation techniques, according to Slaymaker, who claims all he needs for digging is the initiative to obtain the permission of any group involved in the land development.

(Main article continues)

“…USF is now negotiating for the use of the land for the benefit of their students,” Slaymaker said.

Developing land has often brought to mind the many tales one might imagine family has placed on such land but it doesn’t much matter if the diggings gathered are of commercial interest, according to Slaymaker.

Included in the sites being considered as valuable Indian centers, and which Slaymaker has supervised or is supervising, is an area recently uncovered by a developer and estimated to date from 1500 to 1700 A.D., Slaymaker said.

Slaymaker said the Olompali area is one of the biggest in Marin, both in territory and in the number of inhabitants who lived there.

Slaymaker thinks Olompali was once several times the size of the San Francisco Presidio.

Recently discovered artifacts prove the remains of pre-missionary camps, according to Slaymaker.

Professor A.E. Becker of the University of California, Berkeley, is presently conducting a dig above the site for the statewide archeology survey, Slaymaker said.

Dr. A.A. Michael identified as many as 20 families, lodges, and reported that he himself had the same methods reached by the state archeology survey and later by government research.

The city council recently approved the change from agricultural zoning to residential zoning in the Olompali area but requested that the land be inspected prior to any council resolutions.

Their resolution rang out what Slaymaker termed “almost unanimous support.”

Camilla Ynitia, last chief of the Olompalis, is said to be the last of the immediate Slaymaker-named Indian leaders. She is buried on a Mexican land grant located at the Olompali site.

Olompali is estimated to have stood in California about 600 years and it is this research which is directing present research to find the remaining villages, including two others which are buried on the Boro Ranch in Novato.

Slaymaker’s students are using state funds to piece together the artifacts left behind by their uncovered sites.

One site recently uncovered was covered over by a developing bulldozer. Indian remains appear in patterns adjoining a series of living spots. The patterns were discovered by the widening of a creek in upper Marin.

“We are basically involved in the process of public acquisition,” says the meantime Slaymaker says of the students he is training under his classes. “The big lie handed to the Miwoks was that the state once claimed it owned the land which is now the Olompali site.”

Slaymaker claims the dig is centered in barns, the old Friis Ranch house and large outbuildings and the once Indian settlement area that dated back more than 600 years.

Slaymaker, whose conservation will prove that the Moo-lah site developed the real estate of Marin, has his students focusing heavily on the soil and what each student has uncovered.

Today, writes Slaymaker, “it proves the effort that I and my students have placed in the area will be reclaimed and placed into the preservation area of the state’s policies in the area.” It can be argued, he says, but such is life.

________________________________________

PHOTO CAPTIONS

Searching For Clues To A Lost Culture

Students working under the direction of Charles W. Slaymaker, archeology instructor at USF, dig among the lumps and possibly unearth artifacts from the huge Miwok village at Olompali. The painstaking task is being done under the auspices of the local archeological society which has closed at least so far on the 14th century.

The Diligent Diggers Of Olompali

Archeology students are shown at work in the heart of the old campsite located at the Olompali ranch house where school teacher Charles Yas… (portion cut off)