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One Old Junk is Everyone's Treasure: The Excavation, Analysis, and Interpretation of a Chinese Shrimp Junk at China Camp State Park
No full textOf the numerous Chinese junks used in the shrimp fishery of San\ud
Francisco Bay between 1850 -1913, only the partial remains of two are known to\ud
exist today. Buried since 1913 in the tidal mud flats of China Camp State Park in\ud
San Rafael, California, these vessels have eluded adequate documentation and\ud
study. In an effort to assist California Department of Parks and Recreation in the\ud
management of this important cultural resource, this thesis expands the documentation\ud
of this site through limited archaeological survey. It also draws on historic\ud
documents, photographs, and ethnographic research in China to examine\ud
how these vessels, as material culture artifacts, reflect the context in which they\ud
were built and used. The comparison of the China Camp junks' attributes to\ud
those recorded in watercraft of historic and present-day China reveals a vessel\ud
constructed largely in the Chinese tradition, yet also uniquely adapted to the\ud
environmental, economic, and social circumstances of the San Francisco Bay\ud
area at the beginning of the twentieth century. The final chapter of this thesis\ud
explores the potential contributions of this analysis to China Camp State Park's\ud
public interpretation of the history of the San Francisco Bay Chinese shrimp fishery
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