The study presents the results of a descriptive analysis of the skeletal remains of 66 individuals recovered from the Fuller and Fanning Mound sites, located on the Yamhill River, Willamette Valley, Oregon, excavated in 1941-42 by W. T. Edmundson and William S. Laughlin. The literature and original field notes have been analyzed, and a description of burial type, side, orientation, grave type, associations, original preservation, and other information has been compiled for each individual. A tally of each of these burial attributes for the Yamhill population as a whole is also completed. In addition, an assessment of age, sex, and stature, a series of craniometric measurements, and non-metric traits, a dental analysis, and general description of obvious pathologic and morphologic condition of each individual and the group as a whole have been accomplished. Differences in trade item associations between deformed and non-deformed individuals suggest either a later arrival of cranial deformation practices (and possibly another cultural group) to the area, and possibly a multiple occupation of the Fuller and Fanning sites, or an elite class separation defined in part by artificial deformation of crania. Cranial deformation is also associated with the frequency of certain cranial discrete traits. Sexual dimorphism was noted in metric but not in non-metric analyses. Stature estimates indicate a population with mean stature of 1636-1661 for males, and 1547-1574 for females, typical among prehistoric Oregon populations. Mortality appears high for infants and adolescents when compared with other prehistoric North American samples. Dental attrition and caries may indicate a heavier reliance on plant than on animal foods. Single trait comparison to other regional populations shows some significant differences and indicates a need for further analysis of biological relationships using larger comparative samples and multivariate statistics. / Graduation date: 1994

xv, 275 p. : ill., maps. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call numbers: KNIGHT E78.O6 W55 1993 / This study addresses the problem of prehistoric culture change in interior southwest Oregon as reflected in subsistence/settlement patterns. Eighty-three sites, excavated during cultural resource management projects, constitute the database. This study also demonstrates the applicability of cultural resource management data to questions of regional interest and of general importance to anthropology. Two contrasting subsistence/settlement regimes are modeled based on regional ethnographic and archaeological studies. One pattern is that of a mobile subsistence regime; the other is that of a more sedentary regime associated with permanent villages and the collection and processing of foods for over-winter storage. The first is reflected in the archaeological record by a settlement system consisting of seasonal camps and short-term task sites; the second is represented by a settlement system consisting of villages, seasonal camps, and task sites. To test these models against available data, sites were first placed in functional categories (village, seasonal camp, task site) based on qualitative and quantitative assessments of their archaeological assemblages. This analysis represents the first quantitative assessment of a large database of archaeological sites in this region, and also provide a means of testing previous archaeologists' intuitive judgments about site type. Quantitative measures distinguishing sites, based on the density and diversity of stone tools present in their assemblages include: (a) density measures for chipped stone artifacts; (b) a multidimensional scaling exercise which distinguishes sites based on assemblage diversity (richness and evenness); and (c) cobble and groundstone density measures compared with excavated feature data. The quantitative analysis also offers a methodological contribution for avoiding problems associated with comparison of archaeological samples of greatly varying sizes. Next, sites were assigned to the Middle Archaic (6,000-2,000 BP) or Late Archaic (2,000-150 BP) period. Finally, a comparison of site types manifest in the two periods shows that the predominant settlement pattern during the Middle Archaic consisted of seasonal camps and task sites, indicating a more mobile subsistence/settlement regime. A more sedentary, village-centered regime, appeared along major waterways at the end of the Middle Archaic, and spread throughout the region during the Late Archaic. / Committee in charge: D. Melvin Aikens, Chair; Don E. Dumond; Ann Simonds; Patricia F. McDowell

No description available.

This document presents the Cultural Resources Overview for the Harney Area in southeastern Oregon. The Harney Area combines three of the four planning units in the Burns Bureau of Land Management District. Most of the land in the Harney Area is located in Harney County, although a few parcels are just outside the county line in Lake and Malheur Counties. Almost all of Harney County is included. There are approximately 3,320,000 acres of Bureau administered public land within the Harney Area, as well as other public and private lands.

Artifacts recovered from archaeological excavations near the Willamette River in Lake Oswego, Oregon indicate the presence there of a Late Windust-Early Cascade Phase site possibly dating to 9,000 B.P. The assemblage includes 137 projectile points, bifaces or point fragments, nearly all of the Cascade-type. Two stem fragments and one complete point which are similar to those of the Windust Phase which dates 10,000-8,000 B.P. in the southern Columbia Plateau also were found. Stone knives, choppers, scrapers, hammerstones, cores and microblades also are included in the assemblage. No later type notched or stemmed points have been recovered from the site. If the hypothesized dates are valid, the site will be the oldest discovered to date in the Lower Willamette River-Portland Basin area. This thesis reports on the site, its excavation and its artifacts.

Excavations conducted at Indian Sands (35-CU-67C), located along Oregon's southern coast, during 2002 and 2003 identified two discreet, artifact-bearing stratigraphic units. The uppermost unit is a deflated surface containing burnt shell and lithic artifacts associated with early Holocene ¹⁴C dates, while the underlying unit contained only lithic tools and debitage, some of which were associated with a ¹⁴C date of 10,430 ± 150 RCYBP. The late Pleistocene lithic assemblage at 35-CU-67C provides the earliest evidence for human presence on the Oregon coast to date. Analysis performed on the late Pleistocene assemblage addresses the validity of existing hypotheses regarding the nature of early Oregon coastal hunter-gatherer technological and subsistence strategies. These hypotheses are focused on whether early populations on the Oregon coast practiced a generalist-forager or collector subsistence strategy. Using theoretical approaches that deal with the organization of hunter-gatherer technology, analyses were conducted on the lithic tool and debitage assemblages at 35-CU- 67C in order to infer past hunter-gatherer behavior. Through the implementation of multiple tool and debitage analysis methodologies, issues of hunter-gatherer mobility, raw material procurement, stages of lithic reduction, tool production, and site function are presented. The data generated by the late Pleistocene lithic assemblage at 35-CU-67C are compared with the overlying surficial assemblage, additional early sites along the North American Pacific coast, and to contemporaneous sites located further inland within the Pacific Northwest region. Results of the lithic analyses at 35-CU-67C show distinct similarities in debitage trends between the assemblages of each stratigraphic unit. However, when tool assemblages from these units are compared, discrepancies in the types and amount of tools are found. Reasons for intra-site variability and similarity are explained through raw material studies and site function at 35-CU-67C. Additionally, similarities between the early tool assemblage at 35-CU-67C and those found in early tool assemblages on the extended Pacific coast and interior Pacific Northwest regions are discussed. This thesis demonstrates that early southern Oregon coastal populations had a tendency towards high mobility and used a generalized toolkit organization. Early lithic technology used at 35-CU-67C emphasized multidirectional core technology and biface manufacture in the form of preforms and leaf-shaped projectile-points. This type of technological organization is to be expected from hunter-gatherers practicing a generalist-forager subsistence strategy. Based on the 10,430 ± 150 RCYBP date and technological organization at 35-CU-67C, early Oregon coastal occupation is seen as encompassing a generalist-forager subsistence strategy most likely adapted to both coastal and terrestrial environments. / Graduation date: 2005

The portion of the Oregon coast extending from Cape Blanco south into California has long been recognized as a distinct physiographic region, with probable ramifications for prehistoric subsistence and settlement patterns. Several researchers have proposed models outlining a greater reliance upon marine/littoral resources among groups within this region, while more northerly groups exhibited a higher reliance upon estuarine resources. Current knowledge about regional prehistoric subsistence practices, based upon the archaeological record and ethnographic sources, was correlated with the distribution and relative abundance of exploited and potentially exploitable marine species. These data suggest that the abundant coastal rocks and islands found along this section of the Oregon coast serve to concentrate diverse and abundant animal resources within a confined area, allowing for ease of exploitation. Therefore, the rocks and islands were of potential economic importance to aboriginal groups. To support this hypothesis archaeological subsurface testing was undertaken on the only previously recorded offshore island site, and an archaeological sample survey was conducted on additional rocks and islands along this section of coastline to determine their utilization by native peoples. Two additional prehistoric sites were recorded. The results of these investigations are herein presented, and directions for future research are discussed. / Graduation date: 1991

This thesis discusses mining cabin sites from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as cultural resources. Special attention is given the concept of "description" in regards to discussion of the resource category, history, and physical attributes of the sites. Evaluation and management suggestions are presented for this particular resource category. To aid in the process of identification of log cabin notching, a typology of notches is developed and presented within the context of the thesis.

xxi, 541 p. : ill. (some col.), maps. A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call number: KNIGHT E78.O6 O37 2006 / Many archaeological researchers that have conducted investigations in the Harney Valley of southeastern Oregon use the ethnographic description of the seasonal round of the Harney Valley Paiute reported by Beatrice Blyth Whiting in her 1950 work Paiute Sorcery as a framework for discussions of prehistoric human use of the area. Archaeological investigations of seven sites, situated in areas identified as having been utilized by the Harvey Valley Paiutes, were conducted to test the relationship between Whiting's ethnographic account and the archaeological record. Data recovery excavations occurred at the Hoyt (35HA2422), Morgan (35HA2423) and Hines (35HA2692) sites near Burns, and test excavations occurred at the Knoll (35HA2530) site in the Silvies Valley, the RJ site (35HA3013) in the Stinkingwater Mountains, and the Broken Arrow (35HA2735) and Laurie's (35HA2734) sites near Malheur Lake. Studies of the cultural materials recovered during the excavations were undertaken to evaluate the content and complexity of each site. Analyses included typological considerations of the chipped stone tools, ground stone, bone tools, and shell, bone, and stone beads. Radiocarbon dating, obsidian sourcing and hydration, and zooarchaeological and paleobotanical analyses were also conducted when possible. Based on the results of the analyses, the seven sites reported herein were primarily used during the past 2000 years, with periods of less intensive use extending beyond 4000 BP. The results of the archaeological investigations indicate that there is a strong correlation between the late Holocene prehistoric record and Whiting's ethnographic description. However, the relationship between human use of the centrally-located lakes and wetlands and the neighboring uplands is clearly more complex than the ethnographic record suggests. Patterns of settlement and mobility revealed through the archaeological record indicate that central places, located closer to wetlands and lacustrine settings but within relatively easy reach of the uplands, may have figured more prominently in the behavior of prehistoric populations than the seasonal round as described by Whiting. Future research will benefit from explorations of central place foraging, emphasizing the role of behavioral ecology in the placement of sites and patterns of site use within the Harney Valley and the northern Great Basin at large. / Committee in Charge: Dr. C. Melvin Aikens, Chair; Dr. Dennis L. Jenkins; Dr. Douglas J. Kennett; Dr. Esther Jacobson-Tepfer

This thesis examines prehistoric land use patterns of the entire North Santiam subbasin, located on the western slopes of the Oregon Cascade Range. The objective of this analysis is three-fold: 1) to contribute to reconstructing the cultural chronology of the area; 2) to address the use of raw material by local hunter-gatherers and how raw material can be used to reconstruct the seasonal procurement ranges for these groups; and 3) to model the adaptive strategies of the prehistoric inhabitants of the North Santiam subbasin. The adaptive strategies of hunter-gatherer groups in the North Santiam subbasin are addressed by using the known ethnographic record, limited archaeological excavations, and the environmental and social data layers in Geographic Information Systems. ArcView Spatial Analyst was used to analyze the density and distribution of prehistoric sites and their association with major vegetation, huckleberry patches, non-forested communities, slope, aspect, streams, lithic sources, hot springs and trails within the subbasin. Five elevation zones are outlined corresponding to the site density pattern and the key predictive environmental and social variables. This study assumed that sites are not randomly distributed across the landscape; instead hunter-gatherer groups chose a particular location based on the natural environment. It is also assumed that many of the environmental variables have survived to modern time and are represented by the presently available data. Concurrent trace element analysis by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and obsidian hydration analysis conducted on projectile points recovered from the surface and subsurface have provided evidence for early occupation in the subbasin; and revealed patterns in mobility, social interaction, and the use of raw material during the Archaic. The key predictive variables sustained a diversity of plant and animal resources that attracted human groups from both east and west of the Cascade Mountains over the past 10,000 years to seasonally hunt and procure a variety of important plant resources. The results of this study while descriptive in nature elucidates a pattern of land-use by hunter-gatherers, by providing key distributional data on prehistoric sites and their association to particular ecological zones within the North Santiam subbasin during the Archaic Period. / Graduation date: 2002