If you’ve ever been to Bay Street in Emeryville, California you’ve experienced the shopping bonanza that includes Banana Republic, Victoria’s Secret and the AMC movie theaters.
	If you’ve been around awhile you may remember that the site where the mall is today – directly across from the Golden Gate – used to be a decrepit paint factory that leaked toxic waste into the bay.
	What you may not realize is that people have been living – and dying – at that exact location for at least 3000 years.
	When construction crews began digging to build the foundation of the new complex in 1999, they encountered not only deadly combinations of lead and arsenic, but also a native burial ground whose enormous size astounded everyone – including the archaeologists.
	Hundreds of bodies were excavated in the process – some so saturated in toxic sludge that the ancient bones felt like rubber.
	Thousands of shoppers flock to the site with little or no knowledge of its history. The developers built a garden and interpretive center acknowledging the native past – but mention no burials at all.
	Shellmound is the story of how one location has transformed from a center of pre-historic cultures to a commercial mecca for modern people. It examines the decisions made during the toxic cleanup, excavation, and construction through the eyes of the city of Emeryville, the developer, the archaeologists, and the native Californians who worked on the site.