science on the roadside

after biking past them many times, today i pulled over by the apparent gold-panners apparently panning gold by the side of the road on crystal springs, right across the street from a $4 million dollar house that hops and i toured a couple months ago. i axed them what they were doing.

they immediately clarified that they weren't panning for gold. they're archeologists, sifting through dirt excavated about a mile away on el cerrito, where a new sewer or something is being put in. apparently they're looking for human remains, and if they find any, woe unto the construction project.

so far they've found "projectile points", some pottery crap, and a buried sewer pipe to nowhere that nobody, not even the city, knew about.

they said they're really enjoying the view of the hill, across the street. it has, after all, a tree.