Indian Island (Humboldt Bay)
|
Gunther Island Site 67
|
|
National Register of Historic Places marker on Woodley Island in foreground, Indian Island on other side of channel.
|
|
 
|
|
| Location | Address restricted |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Eureka, California |
| Coordinates | 40°48′46.46″N 124°10′6.22″W / 40.8129056°N 124.1683944°WCoordinates: 40°48′46.46″N 124°10′6.22″W / 40.8129056°N 124.1683944°W |
| Area | 6 acres (24,000 m2) |
| NRHP Reference # | 66000208 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHL | July 19, 1964 |
Indian Island or Duluwat Island is located on Humboldt Bay within the city of Eureka, California. The village of Tolowot or Tuluwat on Duluwat Island was the site of the spiritual if not political center of the Wiyot people and is where the main thrust of the 1860 Wiyot Massacre by European settlers took place. It has also been called Gunther Island, and is the site of a National Historic Landmark which encompasses the midden at Gunther Island Site 67.
The island is the largest of three islands located between the Samoa and Eureka Channels within Humboldt Bay and primarily consists of tidal marsh. Over time, human habitation on the island changed its topography, in part due to a process known as shell mounding, which increased the elevation of the island as Wiyot continually placed shells remaining from subsistence fishery management in the same location over a period of centuries.
The indigenous Wiyot lived in Tolowot village on Duluwat Island long enough to alter the topography by the accumulation of shell fragments in middens, and the island became tall enough to be visible on the horizon from several miles away.
A non-degree student and employee of the University of California Llewellyn Lemont Loud (1879-1946) conducted archaeological excavations of the island in 1918 that showed evidence of habitation since around 900 AD. The group of artifacts he excavated and described became known as the Gunther Pattern or Gunther Phase which encompasses the final phase of native dominance lasting until historic times and describes a style of Native American projectile points, grave goods and other archaeological remains which identify a second migration within California around 300 AD. The first major evidence of this came from Gunther Island Site 67 on Indian Island.
On February 26, 1860, about one hundred Wiyot men, women and children were massacred during a World Renewal Ceremony. The massacre was carried out by European immigrants who had settled in the area since 1850 as part of the California Gold Rush. There were few survivors.
...
Wikipedia