Food Processing

Sandstone outcroppings along the eastern terrace of Uvas Creek provided ideal surfaces for bedrock mortars, grinding slabs, metates, and cupules used to process large quantities of food. Mortars and pestles, though often associated with crushing seeds and acorns, were also used throughout the year to process seeds, nuts, roots, meats, fish, and seaweed. The year-round water resources of Uvas Creek and more than 75 known bedrock mortars in the park indicate that the site could have supported a permanent village, and it contains one of the larger concentrations of bedrock mortars in California. Ohlone women used hopper mortars that combined a basket with the bedrock mortar for food processing.

California · United States