This morning Linda and I hiked our way to the “Lost City of Volvon,” a little-known Native American historical site in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area. It has literally hundreds of mortar holes, which were used by members of the Volvon tribe of Bay Miwok Indians to grind acorns and other food items (soap root, Brodaeia bulbs, manzanita, toyon and madrone berries). It clearly was the capital city of the larger Volvon territory, which encompasses the slopes of Mount Diablo and extending eastward about five to ten miles.
Here are some photos we took. For every one of these, ten others could have been included as well.
These are mortar holes, which, together with a pestle, was used to grind nuts and other food.
A rock wall.
More mortar holes.
More mortar holes.
Linda looking at one of the many rocks.
David by some “sombrero” holes that were used to store nuts.
This photo overlooks the site, which is roughly 100 yards by 200 yards in size.