CA-Ala-429H: The Upper Site
In 1980, during the first season of excavation at Yema-po, a second overseas Chinese site was discovered in Lake Chabot Regional Park. This site, located high above San Leandro Creek, has been designated officially as CA-Ala-429H. Due to the presence of a prominent brick feature discovered on the site surface, CA-Ala-429H quickly came to be called "the kiln site." This moniker proved to be inaccurate, as no signs of heat or burning were found on the bricks, and it was redubbed the "Upper Site." The brick feature continued to posed a mystery until 1998 when archaeologist Dr. Julia Costello, a recognized authority on historic sites in the Western U. S., identified a very similar structure in Los Angeles as a 3-burner wok stove.
Dr. Lindy Li Mark, a cultural anthropologist at Cal State Hayward (now Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV) described the wok stove (or hearth) as being a common household feature in China for centuries, and noted that a communal wok this size would likely have feed 50-80 people. Below is a location diagram and two views of the brick feature: one taken from the slope above the feature and the other taken on the terrace surface adjacent to the feature.
PUBLICATIONS
Summerlin, Nancy S. - 1999
Above Yema-Po: A Site Study and Data Analysis of Companion Site CA-ALA-429H. M.A. Thesis, Department of Anthropology, Â鶹ÃÛÌÒAV.
