South American Archaeology: The Very Early Period in the Northwest

The Very Early Period in the Northwest

Clovis 11.5-11 KYA in the Northwest (note calibrated dates used in text, see page 9)
1. Rare, as of 1990 only eleven in Western Washington, fewer in eastern WA., mostly surface finds
2. Only buried Clovis site
  1. East Wenatchee Clovis Cache (Ritchie-Roberts site)
    1. About 50 km south of ice sheet edge
    2. On giant point bar from Missoula floods
    3. Apple orchard
      1. May 1987
      2. Orchard workers installing sprinkler system, at about 60 cmbs
        
        Found six large bifaces
        
        Thirteen other stone tools
      3. Orchard owners showed to friends
        
        One recognized what they were
      4. Orchard owners covered with concrete slab
        
        Got in touch with Bob Meirendorf, north cascades NPS, who got in touch with Mehringer, WSU
        
        Spring 1988 he and world Clovis experts excavated at site—had just been at major Clovis conference, very dramatic
        
        Dug nine 1x1m squares, four away from finds as stratigraphic controls
        
        Ultimately found fourteen Clovis points, most ever found in one place
        
        Worked only one week and then closed down site, needed to think about how to approach it
        
        Analysis found bovine blood residue on some points (bison)
        
        Very large points, some paired, beautiful stone, ceremonial?
        
        Evidence of hafting
        
        Use breaks
        
        Edge wear
        
        Archaeologists mostly concerned about understanding the geomorphological history, tried to avoid units with artifacts until they could figure out depositional history
        
        Important for revealing the Clovis surface and landscape
        
        Important for dating
        
        Important for separating occupations
        
        Very, very subtle sediment differences, visual properties suggested uniformity
        
        Tephra proportions
        
        Glacier peak, 11.25 KYA
        
        Cemented to down facing tool faces
        
        Grain size analysis
        
        Difficult to read sediments, but good for ground penetrating radar
        
        This work done before excavations
        
        Results indicated high probability that there were additional, undisturbed cultural materials
        
        Stopped excavations before all removed, in order to plan carefully for final excavations
        
        But, things got weird
        
        1990 New York archaeologist applied for excavation permit from state
        
        Not a great reputation
        
        Known to have sold artifacts at times, "Indian Artifact Magazine"
        
        Worked with Earth Watch volunteers, inexperienced excavators
        
        Archaeologists in Washington State very upset
        
        WSU refused to participate
        
        Land owner had set unusual requirements as early as 1988
        
        WSU archaeologists wanted assurance that collections would become public trust property, property owner unwilling to make commitment
        
        Many archaeologists supported a moratorium on excavations
        
        Site too precious to dig without adequate planning and funding
        
        NY Archaeologists did dig in 1990, very little reported
        
        1991 several groups expressed interest in buying the site
        
        State of Washington
        
        Organization of archaeologists
        
        Buffalo Museum trustee, offered $485,000
        
        Colville and Yakama Tribes also upset, possible human burial/ceremonial site
        
        Staged protests during New Yorkers excavations
        
        Partnered with archaeology organization to try and buy site and collections
        
        Ultimately State of Washington purchased collection and excavation rights from land owner, Doctor is a Bellvue plastic surgeon
        
        Cost reportedly $750,000
        
        Fifteen year moratorium on excavations
Only one west side candidate for Clovis age site, Manis Mastadon site
1. Age not controversial, sitehood is
  1. Dated 11.5-10.5 KYA
  2. Near Sequim, WA
  3. Excavated by Carl Gustafson 1977-1984
  4. Now owned by archaeology conservancy
2. The Manis's had a bog on their farm
  1. Wanted to build a pond for wild ducks and geese
  2. 1977 very dry summer
    1. Decided to dig out the bog and make it a pond
    2. While digging with a backhoe pulled out two elephant tusks
    3. Called Daugherty who was working at the Ozette site at the time
    4. Daugherty called Gustafson
      1. WSU zoologist/zooarchaeologist
      2. Thought he was looking at a palentological site
      3. Thought it would be a week-end deal
    5. First day, found a 7 inch long rib fragment with, embedded bone splinter and evidence of healing
      1. Question was/is the bone splinter a bone projectile point?
        
        Bone splinter of denser bone than rib
        
        Without periostum (indication of tool processing)
        
        Passed through hide, muscle, and 3/4 inches of bone, so penetration required lots of force
        
        X-ray revealed pointed shape
      2. Evidence of healing indicates bone wound not the cause of death (no signs of infection)
3. Age determined by (carbon 14 dating problematic on really old bone)
  1. Being an elephant
    1. Early on found tooth fragment so knew it was a mastadon not a mammoth, mastadon kills much less common than mammoth
    2. Stratigraphic position
      1. Below mazama ash
      2. In sediments that appeared to be immediate post glacier
  2. Pollen analysis
    1. Indicated plant types common in the area 10-12 KYA
      1. Grasses
      2. Shrubs
      3. Willow
      4. Cactus!
        
        Sequim in rain shadow of Olympic Mountains
        
        Less than twenty inches of rain per year, west slope of Olympic Mountains is rain forest, 160 in. rain/year
4. Gustafson excavated for eight years
  1. Small crew
  2. Piece plotted every bit of bone
  3. Wet site excavation methods
5. Not everyone accepts that Manis is archaeological site
  1. Mastadon may have fallen on bone
  2. Maybe stabbed by humans, but died later, naturally, so Manis not a "site" even though elephant has evidence of human activity
6. Gustafson argued Manis is a "site", ie., believes elephant was butchered and meat was processed to some degree
  1. Evidence