After months of poking, prodding, sifting and examining soil, an archeological dig beneath the parking lot across from Spenger’s restaurant on Fourth Street found no evidence it had ever been home to a Native American shellmound. The findings that the site was not historically important means the owners will seek to develop it. “Investigators found no historically significant remnants of the West Berkeley Shellmound within the parking lot grounds and have concluded to near certainty that none exist within the property,” says a report on the findings by archeologist Allen Pastron and his team from Archeo-Tec Inc., an Oakland-based firm. The dig team included an Ohlone Indian observer, Andrew Galvan. Read the 1900 Fourth St. archeological project website here. “It is the sincere hope of the researchers and sponsors of this study that the findings and conclusions advance general understanding of the history of the site and its surroundings, and contribute to fact-based land-use decisions and policy-making going forward.” The sponsors of the study were property owner Dana Ellsworth and her family firm, Ruegg and Ellsworth, a real estate group that co-owns the parking lot with the Spenger family. Ellsworth’s father, Robert Ellsworth, a Berkeley native, is co-owner of Ruegg and Ellsworth. Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto was sold […]
After months of poking, prodding, sifting and examining soil, an archeological dig beneath the parking lot across from Spenger’s restaurant on Fourth Street found no evidence it had ever been home to a Native American shellmound. The findings that the site was not historically important means the owners will seek to develop it. “Investigators found no historically significant remnants of the West Berkeley Shellmound within the parking lot grounds and have concluded to near certainty that none exist within the property,” says a report on the findings by archeologist Allen Pastron and his team from Archeo-Tec Inc., an Oakland-based firm. The dig team included an Ohlone Indian observer, Andrew Galvan. Read the 1900 Fourth St. archeological project website here. “It is the sincere hope of the researchers and sponsors of this study that the findings and conclusions advance general understanding of the history of the site and its surroundings, and contribute to fact-based land-use decisions and policy-making going forward.” The sponsors of the study were property owner Dana Ellsworth and her family firm, Ruegg and Ellsworth, a real estate group that co-owns the parking lot with the Spenger family. Ellsworth’s father, Robert Ellsworth, a Berkeley native, is co-owner of Ruegg and Ellsworth. Spenger’s Fresh Fish Grotto was sold […]
