“Digging Olompali”
by
E. Breck Parkman
Monday, November 14, 2022
5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. PDT

Breck Parkman’s first assignment as a State Archaeologist was to inventory the cultural resources of Olompali, a brand, new 760-acre State Park in Marin County. According to Breck, one of his most important discoveries was a cultural deposit consisting of artifact-rich fire debris inside the ruins of the former Burdell Mansion. It was here that he found a virtual time capsule of hippie material culture, items that once belonged to the Grateful Dead-affiliated, Chosen Family commune, the residents of the mansion when it was destroyed by fire on February 2, 1969. This presentation describes the importance of that discovery and how, forty years later, it’s still informing our knowledge of the Recent Past.

Breck Parkman was born and raised in Georgia but has made California his home since 1971. He lives in Sonoma with his teenage son. Breck retired from State service in 2017, after four decades as a State Archaeologist. His work took him to all corners of the state, and to places like Kodiak Island, Alaska; the Canadian Plains; the South Coast of Peru; and Central Siberia. He has worked on five continents. Breck earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in Anthropology at California State University, Hayward. He was the founding Director of the UNESCO-sponsored Fort Ross ~ Global Village Project (1996-2000), is a Research Affiliate at the University of California at Berkeley, and a Past President of the Society for California Archaeology. Currently, Breck sits on the Board of Directors of the Sonoma Ecology Center. His research interests are broad and range from Ice Age megafauna to the archaeology of the Recent Past. Breck’s many publications address these and related topics. His work has been featured in hundreds of newspaper, radio, and television interviews and he has appeared in various films and documentaries that have aired on PBS, BBC, and the History and Discovery Channels. Breck is perhaps best known for his work at Olompali, where he has helped develop the field of Contemporary Archaeology through his archaeological study of the Grateful Dead and the Chosen Family commune.
In addition, he has been part of an international project focused on the Upper Paleolithic archaeology and paleoenvironments of southwestern Russia and central Ukraine.