Circle of Circles - California

[@gregoryhuff4587]

Thank you, I was born and grew up in the bay area and knew very little of the people that lived there. I'm 62 years old and only recently became aware of the shell mounds around the bay. I know where one is, I thought it was a natural occurrence. I have native blood my grandmother was Siminole. I have always been proud of that. I believe the way they lived is how people were intended to live. Peace

[@sawhiminnhalf4956]

your work will stand the test of time for the ages and your spirit as well

[@storiesbyalex]

Sawhim, thanks for watching and your kind words..............................alex

[@rotisseriebear5394]

Maybe they lived on top of the hill to get more direct sunlight in the winter? My family has a cabin in Arroyo Seco (The Grand Canyon of Monterey), and the sun sets quite early in the summer. If it burns back the clouds by the afternoon in the winter, you might not get any direct sunlight that day, and the river bottom can be quite chilly. There are several caves and overhangs nearby that were excavated before my time, and no artifacts were left behind, but the burn marks from fires are still there. I just found this channel, and I'm loving it. I really appreciate learning more about how to read signs of ancient habitation.

[@DaHipHopPolice]

Thank you! Your videos have helped my decision to Major in Anthropology.

[@storiesbyalex]

Ewige, follow your dreams.......alex

[@vincedugar4840]

Thanks for your service to history and humanity.

[@hansenator5000]

This is a great video! Very interesting. You are in my list of favorite KZbinrs!

[@storiesbyalex]

Zack, thanks for taking the journey.....alex

[@ShelleeGraham]

I have learned so much for your wonderful expedition videos. Thank you so much!

[@storiesbyalex]

Shellee, thanks for watching the series. I appreciate your kind words...........alex

[@kristyhanna8476]

Thanks for your videos Alex! I really do enjoy eatching them! Wish I was there in person!!

[@alanhyt79]

The stone tools displayed upon the bed of twigs and oak leaves implies that acorns have been, and will be, in season in that location. Food and water, tools and people, together in one place. It took a few of these videos, but narrowing down where to look for signs of human habitation seems entirely logical now. If I lived in those parts with their technology, I'd want to set up an acorn grinding mortar near both an oak grove and a water source so that it would be convenient and familiar when I was there in acorn season. Hopefully the generations to follow would be at home there, as well, enjoying the perfectly placed mortar, listening to the gurgle of the stream, the pounding of the acorns, and the sounds of the clan in conversation and play, maybe the complaint of a child who does not really like acorn gruel and wants to go on a hunt. But it's surprising that there's no nearby water at this site, even during acorn gathering season. Did they carry pots or skins of water to that location? The stones at 11:30 must have been prized items, especially the large, highly versatile, wonderfully shaped stone. "It pounds, it grinds, it crushes! One stone does it all!" "I want that." --overheard at the annual trade gathering, some large but unknown number of years ago Maybe the stones were meant to be hidden there until next season, but no one returned, or they were hidden too well and couldn't be found again.

[@ingvarellingsen7270]

No Wonder I love history. Thanks!

[@brad45c]

Another fine production, Alex!

[@storiesbyalex]

Hey Brad, thanks for watching....alex

[@09Silverbull]

Thank you for the video. Interesting that you state California’s pre colonizer Indigenous population at 100,000 to 300,000. Many Indigenous California tribe’s estimates are 10 times larger.

[@richardbowers3647]

Hill-top sites were a favorite place to work crafts & watch for game. Many hand-chopping tools can be found at these elevated places. All part of the survival thing. Also, basket weaving had been used to make water bottles with a pine pitch lining. Hot stones had been used in this process to coat the inside of the bottle. I must comment again that the drumming give a Congo effect to your wonderful presentations.

[@storiesbyalex]

Richard, thanks for watching and your comments....................alex

[@Blessings.429]

Just found your channel a big Thank You 😊

[@SailorsDaBomb]

Another amazing video. I wonder if the houses were for winter-time and the stream overflowed at that time of year? Speculating is fun. Maybe they had large containers for water placed around their homes so didn't need to be as close to the stream? Mysteries abound...

[@storiesbyalex]

I think the site was possibly used as a ceremonial site as opposed to a full time living site......alex

[@sandeedriver1941]

I love your channel. Beautiful music and interesting finds!

[@MrSoarman]

Just can't get enough of your videos, take pictures and leave footprints.

[@bobbercam7127]

Love your presentations ..keep up the great work!

[@shandrydana]

I always enjoy your videos....thanks for sharing

[@1uptospeed]

good presentation alex .maybe a long time ago the stream was closer to the circles but carved itself down& away.

[@storiesbyalex]

Thanks for watching. One of the things I noticed was that there were very few mortars that would have been used to process the village food. Perhaps, it was primarily a ceremonial site. .....alex

[@AlreadyImmortal]

Alex, you are one Top Notch Thingfinder!!! Rockin video brother!

[@wildbillhackett]

I grew up near Cahokia Mounds and you can run across copperheads and cottonmouths down on the flat land, but you never see them on the mounds, at least not up on the tops of them. It makes me wonder if perhaps ancient people sometimes built their houses on top of hills to try to avoid various kinds of unwanted critters.

[@jimhamman2335]

Love your work and enthusiasm! Perhaps the camps were built on hilltops to enable the people to spot game from a great distance.

[@OmahaTom]

why do you have the black and white filter on those aerials and other shots?

[@joshhopkins3131]

We're was this at

[@allenschmitz9644]

I make up loony rock story's too...the Gopher bit was GOLD!

[@zanthornton]

This is a terrific film: exciting educational but respectful. Your modeling great respect to Native and history! Plus look, but don't dig or steal artifacts. There are so many videos arrow hunting where they ruin the context and location. Wow i want to be an archeologist and i'm 56! Again gratitude for treating us as adults and not dumb down nor talk over our heads. I watch videos 6 hrs a day instead of TV. Then you end with Natives are not dead, they have survived. Wow A+ ... from a Cherokee 1st Nation disabled veteran!

[@storiesbyalex]

Zan, thank you for watching and your comments. The journey continues.......alex

[@stallsonpurpose]

Alex you have a treasure trove of wonder here

[@storiesbyalex]

Stallson Purpose, thanks for watching and your comment...............alex

[@notsure2247]

I believe I found a Volvon Astronomical site. There was definitely a Southern marker and a Solstice marker. I found the site from one of your videos. It's located at the lower Volvon Village site in the Morgan territory.

[@storiesbyalex]

Hello Damon, thanks for watching the video. Can you identify the Volvon site from google maps so that I could visit the site? My email is [e-mail]..........................alex

[@QuestForDetails]

I have a bunch of site i've discovered in north bay hills, need help , we should work together , try to document them

[@storiesbyalex]

Hello Quest For Details, thanks for watching the series. Perhaps, you could send me an email with several details of your finds. My email is [e-mail]

[@loganwilcox4037]

I really enjoy your videos! I'm trying to work in the field of archaeology. Do you (or anyone else who reads this) have any recommendations on how I can make that a reality?

[@C-NoteMac]

Possibly the equivalent to a lookout tower.

[@bcbconklin]

very interesting site!

[@armandodiaz5342]

You got me going in circles Going around And around I'm strung out over you Strung out over you

[@douglasturner6153]

As a Boy Scout in the 50s we set up fake Indian Sites like that one. I've wondered if anyone like you found it and made a KZbin video like this.

[@charyllruggeroli9207]

Hey, Thank YOu so much. Very interesting.

[@storiesbyalex]

Charyll, thanks for watching..........alex

[@TheBilybob25]

Great video

[@christinearmington]

Pretty sure this style comes from Saturday mornings watching Sky King! 🤩👍🌞✈️

[@tinytattoomike7943]

Really interesting video I live in Yavapai county Arizona we believe we had a pit house on our property We have a ancient ceremonial hill right behind our house it’s protected you can’t go up there There’s little pointed mountains dotted along oak creek all the way to Bridgeport ruins They used the top of the hills to communicate they would pass along the message by signaling these hills are spaced out 6 miles apart the 2 ruin sites are approximately 15 miles apart the distance a human could travel no problem in a day

[@brianmorphew7713]

Wow Alex, that view! I can see at least 20 or thirty pits, likely dwellings just across the ravine from you, that hill is covered but looks like it was cleared for grazing. just fucking amazing. I have to get there. thanks for sharing this.

[@jslfcs6655]

Top of the hill makes sense. Better view around the area and easier to defend.

[@wiscgaloot]

This is apparently somewhere near Morgan Hill but I can't for the life of me figure out where.

[@storiesbyalex]

Kelly, thanks for watching. The area is called Coyote Hills open space....................alex

[@wiscgaloot]

@@storiesbyalex Thank you! I am thinking of writing a book of historical fiction featuring the natives of this area. I'll have to go take a look at this site. Thanks for posting!

[@wiscgaloot]

​@@storiesbyalex Found it! I had to use Google Earth and go to older images. I'll hike up there this Saturday and take a look.

[@shakenbutnotstirred3103]

@@wiscgaloot that sounds fantastic! Did you write your book? I'd love to read something like that. 😎

[@wiscgaloot]

@@shakenbutnotstirred3103 No, I likely won't write it until I retire in a couple of years.

[@zeynelocak9557]

Thanks a lot

[@patrickdecambra2219]

I think they were on top of Hills so they can spot mammoths

[@catfishjohn56]

love vidos i think the reason hill top living is you need flat place to sleep but water will collect there when rains alot but hill top thats hard most water drains away water in wickup will put out fire to its really bad when its ben raining for days and floor of your wick up starts to flood at mid night. as young man i lived for years out side in wickup tipe shelters guarding sheep and growing pot traping fur in cen calif . i am old now live in side and like it

[@eb6195]

I would think living on the high ground would be for purposes of defense or possibly ritual, as it is less convenient (further from water & food sources).

[@QuestForDetails]

the California you see today is drained fields by the pioneers , when it was healthy the flats were places of meandering streams and marshes, the hills were up out of mud and mosquito, all the first roads , stage roads are in the hills for that reason, they drain, flat lands become bog zones in winter.

[@tommaddux7186]

Hill tops are usually defensive sites.

[@noname-by3qz]

I'm waiting for the location in California. 4 minutes. Still waiting. Can't he just give the county? And did he have permission?

[@justinthomas5723]

Santa Clara county

[@onceANexile]

I find lots of hammers, hand axes, and a pistol I gave my friend.

[@shandrydana]

I wonder how many large boulders with mortars have been dug up by farmers or construction crews and used in peoples yards without the knowledge of what is on those boulders?

[@storiesbyalex]

Hello Denise, thanks for watching. I think in the past that often happened. I have seen homestead homes that had mortars incorporated into their foundations and fireplaces. View this modern mortar and pestle house I filmed.......alex Finding Lost Civilization Series - Lo de Marcos - Nayarit - Mexico .

[@shandrydana]

I have big rocks in my front yard that look like they could have mortars in them.

[@storiesbyalex]

Denise, run you hand inside or along the depression and it should be somewhat smooth from the grinding.....alex

[@shandrydana]

I will check it out....

[@shandrydana]

There is a park a few blocks away that was a Native American Village....but there is no mention of this information at the park, no monuments, I found out this information hidden on a site about Paradise Ca, it is sad that most history in California doesn't recognize the Natives that lived in most areas, but we are still here.

[@fuknsk8now758]

at the top because of floods

[@johnallen2771]

I have tasted acorn mush and it's terribly bitter and unappealing. But I guess these people ate it every day, odd. Maybe this was before they knew how to kill animals? But you'd think that would have come first. I went out walking in the desert where I live in northern Calif and found a mortar site and some straight lines drawn on a rock with white chalk. I was hoping to find an arrowhead but I didn't.

[@elizabethstump4077]

I have collected acorns and it depends on which variety of oak you gather from. Valley oak acorns are the best with lowest tannins. Then you also have to leech the mashed acorns in a cool running stream for a few days to leech out the tannins. You can also do this by putting rough ground acorns into a muslin sack, soak in water, refrigerate, change once a day for four to five days, then dry out and finish grinding to a finer powder. Makes a good additive to pancake batter.

[@johnallen2771]

@@elizabethstump4077 Wow. How many acorns would it take for 1 pancake? Those women were probably grinding all dang day to feed a whole tribe. You know we ate buckeyes when I was growing up in Ohio and even roasted them on an open fire and they were delicious, so I suppose some acorns are probably tasty if you prepare them right, like you said.

[@Dihechuwa]

Making acorn is a time intensive process. The location of where the acorn is harvested, how acorn is gathered, how it is carried, how it is processed and stored are equally important. If you have negative attitude or are angry or lazy it demonstrates lack of respect and consideration to the overall outcome and quality of the final goal. The nutritional benefit acorn offers is astounding. You can't rush acorn. When done properly it is good.

[@tuledude89]

defensive position!!! and a good one if they had water that close they were set who could td anAlex K vid???

[@storiesbyalex]

Hey Tuledude, thanks for watching.....alex

[@denaredford6701]

Lost in time iis really to nice . Destroyed by our Governments policy’s .

[@orange70383]

Why isn't it all buried by now, I thought everything from the past get buried.

[@storiesbyalex]

orange, thanks for watching the series. It all depends on the weather conditions in the area. Watch several other episodes of this series and you will see what still lays on the surface.......alex

[@robertflores5370]

I went to school in California. I grew up there. I don't remember being taught any of this. Tired of hearing about the 13 colonies on the East Coast. That's not my heritage, mine is closer towhat you're showing.

[@j.dupontsmith353]

May not have been a village for the living.

[@storiesbyalex]

+J. Dupont Smith Unfortunately, the true meaning of the site has been lost in time........alex

[@royramey5659]

Defensive

[@storiesbyalex]

Roy, thanks for watching and your observation...........alex

[@MichaelAnderson-ef4gu]

Native American game corals and driving fences find them please thank you

[@Calduc.]

Probably up there due to grizzlies below.

[@robertboykin1828]

Not a healthy place to be in a thunner storm.

[@glenn2346]

c est juste un campement.

[@storiesbyalex]

Oui, mais très ancienne et avant l'arrivée des Européens aux Amériques .....alex

[@민주복윈]

Native American (in. Cherokee) = KOREAN. .

[@frenchpizza9725]

All sins will be revealed . First nation's

[@brucebrock9369]

You all see everyone leaves california

[@KC-ww3zh]

We have a beautiful ranch with meadows and lots of water. We choose to stay in Cali. because I've never seen a more gorgeous place than ours.

[@WeBoogie28]

This is a flat out fallacy..many of those ppl survive the their current decendents..ur fabricating false history

[@DD-bn2mx]

Alex, that fake hat doesn't convince anyone

[@wiscgaloot]

Hi Alex--I'd like to respectfully request that this video be taken down. I talked to some Open Space representatives and this site has not be investigated at all by archaeologists, and they want it left untouched. I'd really hate to see Silly Con Valley idiots go up there and damage the sites or worse, "collect" grinding stones and other artifacts.

[@storiesbyalex]

Kelly, I appreciate your concern and comments. Consequently, I reviewed the video and conducted research regarding information available concerning the site. First, after reviewing the video I noted that it does not provide a location of the site. Secondly, the site was officially recorded by archaeologists in 1978, site CA-SCL-341. Additionally, there are publications available to the public, which specifically identifies the site..............................alex

[@wiscgaloot]

@@storiesbyalex Thanks! I think I will try to hike up there tomorrow or Monday then. It is part of the park so I shouldn't get in any trouble doing that, even though it is off-trail.

[@eb6195]

If archeologists wanted to investigate the site they would have done it by now.

[@goldenpeanuts9]

@ kelly good grief @ alex ty for making this video

[@wiscgaloot]

@@goldenpeanuts9 F off.

[@tommaddux7186]

These sites are probably not ancient. The ancient world dates from 476 AD and before that.

[@storiesbyalex]

Tom, thanks for watching and your comment. Native Americans (Ohlone People) have been in the area of the Circle of Circle for over 6,000+ years.............................alex

[@stankygeorge]

I am not buying it! Why would a stone age people build a village on top of that high and steep hill? For one, how did they get water, fire wood etc.? I would take a closer look at the hill itself and what is buried within! I writing this one off as a cover story!

[@daieast6305]

too tired of y'all calling people as native or original...you could get around this mistake by calling them by their actual tribal names...you would not like to be called by other than your own name, show some respect!

[@RCRWJR]

or just callum Savage

[@shealdedmon7104]

You say you know those rocks were tools because of association. Well let me ask you a question. Did they make the pestles and scaping tools? Where are their pots and pans? Did you find any flat stones that they would have cooked on? I think your full of yourself and you are repeating what some professor told you. I live in eastern Maine and I can go pick up a truck load of rocks that look exactly like the ones you said are tools. I mean truck loads. If you think you can pick up a rock and say it was used by the ancients as you called them by association then your not as smart as you think.

[@storiesbyalex]

Sheal, thanks for watching the video and your comments. There are several factors in ascertaining whether or not a person has encountered a stone tool. One primary indicator is whether the site was once inhabited by people at one time. Another important indicator is finger and hand holds. These stone tools were ergonomic and often contain finger and hand holds. Many times the stone would be slightly shaped or altered. For example, a notch placed in an area where the thumb hold would be. In other words they fit the hand or finger on several levels. You can only tell this by actually handling the stone. So, it is not a matter of how the stone looks like. Rather, it is how they fit in your hand. Sometimes, because these tool were used often they actually contain a discoloration where skin oils have stained the stone. Often times these tools, depending on their use, are located near food processing sites. In California many food processing sites were located near water sources, such as streams, which was required for processing of acorns. Anyway, for anyone to make a judgement about a stone tool they would first have to handle the item...............................alex