Activists Say Stadium Project Site May Be on Burial Ground

Activists contended yesterday that a possible American Indian burial ground underneath the oak grove near Memorial Stadium could prevent the university from building on the site, but campus officials remain skeptical about the validity of their claims.

Former Berkeley mayoral candidate and American Indian activist Zachary RunningWolf obtained an archaeological site survey document Friday stating that the proposed site of an athletic training facility lies on top of “an area producing burials.”

RunningWolf said the university’s Environmental Impact Report for the project did not address the possibility of a burial ground at the site despite their awareness of the document.

University officials released a statement saying that a subsurface archaeological test would determine whether the site contains “significant historic and/or prehistoric cultural remains.”

However, the test cannot take place until a temporary injunction banning construction on the site is lifted, according to the statement.

Officials said the origin of the remains are uncertain and the presence of an American Indian burial ground would not prevent construction on the site.

“California law does not prevent them from building on top of it,” said Larry Myers, executive secretary of the Native American Heritage Commission.

Kent Lightfoot, a curator at UC Berkeley’s Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology, said the document, which recorded the discovery of three skeletons on the site, does not indicate the existence of an American Indian burial ground.

“The ethnic identification of the human skeletal remains is unclear,” Lightfoot said in a statement. “There is no indication from the records that this isolated skeleton is part of a larger archaeological site.”

RunningWolf said California Senate Bill 18 legally prevents the university from building on the site. The bill states that “there shall be no further excavation or disturbance to (a) site” suspected to contain human remains until authorities are notified and remains are buried appropriately.

American Indian leaders expressed anger yesterday at plans to build the training facility.

“This site is being desecrated and destroyed by man,” said American Indian leader Wounded Knee of the Ohlone tribe.

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