For ten thousand years or more the ancestors of the Muwekma Ohlone Indians lived, gave birth, hunted and fished. They harvested a great diversity of fruits and vegetables. They managed large tracts of land through selected burning. They married, grew old and died here by San Francisco Bay.

The Muwekma Ohlone and other tribes developed religious institutions and a system of social ranking. Many of their elite were buried with grave wealth, in cemeteries that developed into large earth mounds, commonly known as "shellmounds". Muwekma means "The People" in the Tamien and Chochenyo Ohlone Indian languages.