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Busby et al. 1974. Four Papers on Great Basin Anthropology. Contributions of the Archaeological Research Facility, No. 21.

The valley of the lower Colorado River is well known for the immenseoutline figures of gravel which occur on its river terraces. Despite thisfact, only a few archaeologists have shown an interest in them, and as aresult there is little detailed information available concerning them.This paper is designed to sumarize briefly and to note the present stateof such information in order to facilitate future research.The two largest groups of gravel outlines yet discovered are the"giant desert figures" and the "mystic maze." The "giant desert figures"site is located approximately sixteen miles north of Blythe, California,and is clearly pictographic in nature. The "mystic maze" is situatedacross the river from Topock, Arizona, and like a number of the othergravel constructions of the region, may or may not be pictographic innature. However, in the light of presently available information, it doesnot seem practical to attempt to decide which gravel alterations are orare not pictographic. The locations of all known sites are indicated onthe distribution map. As can be seen, many such sites have been reportedsome distance from the lower Colorado River valley, particularly in theCalifornia deserts.

During April and May of 1949, test excavations were made at a largestratified shellmound on the shores of San Francisco Bay. 1 The site,designated in the records of the U.0. Archaeological Survey as 4-Mrn-115,is located on a point of land just north of San Rafael. The property isowned by Mr. W.H. Thomas of San Rafael, whose friendly cooperation in permittingthe excavation is here gratefully acknowledged.The preliminary excavations were made to check the stratigraphic andcultural associations of the mound. At the time, it was hoped that excavationof the site would be continued on a larger scale. However, variousfactors have prevented continuance of the work, and it now appears desirableto place on record the sketchy data obtained from the preliminary tests.The artifact sample is regrettably small, consisting of only a handful ofspecimens, but it appears sufficient to outline the cultural position of thesite. The excavation which has been done to date is of importance for tworeasons: first, a C14 date was obtained which throws some light on theterminal period of the Middle Horizon on San Francisco Bay, and second, aburned house ruin was exposed which merits description because of the rarityof such features in Central California archaeology.