This research focuses on events surrounding the activities of Battery Freeman, a coastal defense facility constructed within the earthworks of "old" Fort Stevens near Astoria, OR, in 1900 and destroyed in 1939. Archival data are used in conjunction with nearly 5,000 artifacts that were recovered from archaeological excavations in 1989 by the Oregon State University Field School, to reconstruct the history of the facility. Archival information provided a detailed representation of the spatial setting of Battery Freeman with respect to the original earthworks of Old Fort Stevens. In addition, this information detailed the timing and progress of and materials used in the construction of the battery. Spatial, temporal, and typological analyses were conducted on the artifacts. The great majority of the artifacts are associated with Battery Freeman architecture. Many of these artifacts were homogenously distributed throughout a "fill unit" reflecting the leveling and bulldozing of the site. However, several primary features were preserved, including a remnant of the east bulkhead wall of the pre-1900 structure and an incinerator feature apparently used in the battery. The spatial context of artifacts associated with these features could be interpreted with greater confidence. / Graduation date: 1994

Changes to commemorative signage in Port Orford, Oregon, United States, during 1998 and 1999 represent an emerging public acknowledgement of the removal by force of most of the indigenous peoples of Southwestern Oregon in the 1850s. A wide range of participants, including local area residents and nonresident members of Native American First Nations, negotiated changes to signage within a context of controversy. Hegemonic social memory institutionalized as local history and publicly displayed as text on a historical marker was challenged by an alternate version of the event commemorated: a conflict between Athapaskans and Euro- Americans in 1851 at the site now know as "Battle Rock." The alternate version is supported by oral tradition which is marginalized as a source of knowledge about the past while the official history has been privileged by repetitious inscription and incorporated commemorative ritual. Discussion includes the selectivity of public history and the creation of public memory through commemorative activity in which official and vernacular interests compete. A parallel is drawn between the remembrance and acknowledgement of events once suppressed and the remembrance and acknowledgement of marginalized indigenous American First Nations "forgotten" by the United States federal government. The Confederated Tribes of the Lower Rogue, building support for legislative acknowledgement of their tribal status, contributed positively to the production of signage text, an activity which enhanced both their visibility and the visibility and remembrance of their Athapaskan forebears.

Changes to commemorative signage in Port Orford, Oregon, United States, during 1998 and 1999 represent an emerging public acknowledgement of the removal by force of most of the indigenous peoples of Southwestern Oregon in the 1850s. A wide range of participants, including local area residents and nonresident members of Native American First Nations, negotiated changes to signage within a context of controversy. Hegemonic social memory institutionalized as local history and publicly displayed as text on a historical marker was challenged by an alternate version of the event commemorated: a conflict between Athapaskans and Euro- Americans in 1851 at the site now know as "Battle Rock." The alternate version is supported by oral tradition which is marginalized as a source of knowledge about the past while the official history has been privileged by repetitious inscription and incorporated commemorative ritual. Discussion includes the selectivity of public history and the creation of public memory through commemorative activity in which official and vernacular interests compete. A parallel is drawn between the remembrance and acknowledgement of events once suppressed and the remembrance and acknowledgement of marginalized indigenous American First Nations "forgotten" by the United States federal government. The Confederated Tribes of the Lower Rogue, building support for legislative acknowledgement of their tribal status, contributed positively to the production of signage text, an activity which enhanced both their visibility and the visibility and remembrance of their Athapaskan forebears. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate