The Archaeology of the ARF

Laurie Wilkie

Upon arriving in August at Berkeley, I was surprised to see that my new office would have a year-long view of construction activities. Little did I suspect, however, that the office also provided a view of a new archaeological endeavor! Early in September, the construction workers began recovering archaeological materials from inquisitive archaeologists. Thanks to the efforts of Mark Hall, we were able to halt construction and gain access to the site for a day and a half. Our "salvage" excavations ensured that a sample of the materials would be recovered in situ and be available for study after the rest of the site was destroyed. The excavations also allowed us to ensure that no deposits over 100 years old were represented at the site. Under California State Law, mitigation of impacts to intact archaeological remains over 100 years of age is required.

The archeological community on campus demonstrated their enthusiasm for field work (and for procrastinating in their studies) by volunteering their aid in the salvage excavation. Cindy VanGilder, Heather Price, Hannah Ballard, Meredith Chesson, Ian Kuijt, Thomas Wake, Mark Hall and myself all donated field support and equipment to the effort. By the end of the second day, we had succeeded in cleaning and drawing the exposed backhoe trench profile, which clearly delineated several trash pits, we excavated and sifted the matrix from one of the trash pits and collected as much surface material as possible.

The materials recovered from the site were associated with the activities of the fraternity Zeta Psi. Zeta Psi was the first fraternity to settle west of the Mississippi, with their first house at Cal. The original house was a wooden structure built at 2551 College in 1870. Around 1912, this first structure was moved back on the lot and the present brick structure was built. The fraternity continued to use both buildings until sometime in the 1950's when the chapter moved to a new location.

The Zeta Psi crest was found on a number of "hotel porcelain" vessels recovered from the site. Ceramics included a wide range of vessel forms, including pates, bowls, teacups, demitasse cups, saucers, serving bowls and an egg cup. While the ceramics were not marked with the manufacturer's stamp (which would facilitate dating), they were recovered in association with glass artifacts that were predominantly manufactured in the first two decades of the 20th century.

A wide range of artifacts associated with the fraternity's activities were recovered including a bone toothbrush head, a ceramic toothpaste pot, a hat pin, shell buttons, and numerous iron cans, glass ink wells and glass bottles which once held a diverse array of medicines, beers, sodas, winces, liquors, preserves and condiments. In some instances, portions of labels are still preserved on the bottles. For instance, "DelMonte" appear to have been the most popular Catsup used at the site. Local San Francisco and Berkeley pharmacies are also represented among the medicinal products, as are the popular national patent medicines, such as "Ayer's Sarsaparilla". In all, over 12 boxes of materials were recovered from the site.

Materials from the excavations are going to be housed in the historical archaeology laboratory while they are analyzed. Next semester the materials will be cataloged as studied by students as a part of a laboratory class in historical archaeology. The materials present a unique opportunity for us to glimpse a segment of campus life during the early 20th century. We are hoping to work with current members of Zeta Psi to locate alumni from the Cal chapter who may have lived in 2251 College so that we can begin an oral historical investigation of life at the fraternity. We are also fortunate in that the Bancroft Library contains a large number of student diaries, personal papers and interviews from the early 20th century that should help us construct the social context of student life at Cal.

Although the excavations were conducted under less that desirable circumstances, the site has already served some important educational purposes. Articles in The Daily Californian, Oakland Tribune and Berkeleyan and a television spot on the local CBS affiliate have provided the public with more exposure to archaeology. Dr Ian Kuijt was able to coordinate a visit to the site by his 250 person "Introduction to Archaeology" course. This visit has inspired several students to volunteer in the historical archaeology lab. The University has also been educated, we hope, and discussion between the administration and representatives from the Archaeological Research Facility are stressing the need for more consideration of archaeological resources, as required by California State and Federal Law, during the planning stage of development. In such a way, we are working to ensure that no more of the campus's rich archaeological heritage is needlessly threatened.