Offthewall

TheEaster Island statues. Stonehenge. BerkeleyMystery Walls? Thegeneralpublic might not knowmuch about thewalls thatstop and startacross the landscape inthe BayArea and are thesubject of tons of speculation. Were they madeby aliens? Aretheyrelics from survivorsofalost continent? Itturns out,they’re not much of amystery,according to Beverly Ortiz,cultural services coordinator with the EastBay Regional ParkDistrict. “Wejust callthemrock walls,”shesays.Analysis placesthemin theearly American era—the one picturedatleftdates back to asearly as 1851 — whenEuropean settlers aresaidtohavebuiltthewallsusingthe labor of marginalized groups,suchas theChinese andNative Americans. The walls were used mainlytoclearland ofscatteredrocks to facilitate the movement of grazing livestock, such ascattle,and,attimes, to guide the movement of the animals or tocorral them. Sotakeoffyourtinfoil hats:Even thoughthewalls don’t, infact, haveotherworldly origins, they provide a snapshotoftheBayArea’srural past.