Conversations About Landscape: Delving into Bay Area History through Archives and Radar

Investigating California's hidden past requires delving into archives of old maps and records, and using high-tech equipment to search for artifacts in the field. Hear how two researchers are using these approaches, and what they've learned about the Bay Area's early history.

Science Across Centuries

Archaeologist Scott Byram will present some of his recent work using ground-penetrating radar together with archival documents to study the diversity of Bay Area communities of the 1800s. These include Chinese fishing villages around San Francisco Bay, Native dwellings at Spanish missions, and African American homesteads in Contra Costa County.

'Twas like a Maelstrom, with a Notch

Coast Survey historian John Cloud will tell the story of the earliest research on the tidal water dynamics in San Francisco Bay, from an 1870s study by the U.S. Coast Survey's leading hydrographer, Henry Mitchell. Mitchell was investigating a proposal to build a pier halfway across the Bay, which would have dramatically altered water flow throughout the estuary.

This event is presented in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in San Francisco.

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