News

Earlier this month, our team reached completion of the Sunol Corporation Yard Improvement Project located just outside of Fremont.

Throughout construction, Amoroso had the opportunity to be a part in the greater history of the Bay Area. At the beginning of the Amoroso's contract with the SFPUC, the project team was made aware that they could potentially find Native American artifacts on their seven-acre site. The area in which the project was being built had been home to the Muwekma Ohlone tribe. Therefore, it was built into the contract that after demolishing the existing administration building, archeologists were to spend 28 days digging for any artifacts they could find. Early on, they found small stones that the tribes once used for cooking in fire pits, but once Amoroso's earthwork subcontractor, Duran & Venables, started excavating, construction crews came across what is believed to have been a Muwekma Ohlone tribe burial ground.

During the excavation, the earthworks subcontractor, Duran & Venables, uncovered nearly 30 burials on the jobsite dating back 1,500-2,000 years.

Liaisons from the tribe were brought in and archeologists monitored the excavation process. During this time, Duran & Venables was required to dig slowly, scraping inches of soil at a time with a flat-blade bucket. Every time they found something that could potentially be related to the tribe, the site work came to a halt and the archeologists meticulously reviewed the findings and the site.

"As soon as we thought we found something, we notified them, stopped work and moved on to a different area until the archeologist was done," Amoroso's Project Manager Dean Ramsay said. "We were sensitive to the fact that these were their tribe members and long-lost family."

A few hundred yards down the road from Amoroso's Sunol Corporation Yard project is the site of the the future Sunol Water Watershed Center. This project site has uncovered nearly 80 more burials. The future visitor's center will serve as a place for guests to see and learn about a few of the artifacts that have been found.

Through constant collaboration, attention to detail and a by putting the client first, Amoroso and Duran & Venables successfully managed a unique situation and contributed to preserving Native American history.

With the completion of the Sunol Yard Improvements, the new facilities will increase the efficiency and sustainability of site operations. The new facilities will continue to aid the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in providing safe and viable water for the town of Sunol and beyond.