This thesis was to develop a bone artifact typology for the Oregon coast. This typology was used to test the hypothesis that different geographical regions of the Oregon coast would have different artifact assemblages associated with them. These regions, identified by geologist from landform changes, have been defined as: region 1, from the Columbia River to Tillamook Head; region 2, from Tillamook Head to Heceta Head; region 3, from Heceta Head to Cape Arago; region 4, from Cape Arago to the California boarder. Three criteria were used to develop the bone artifact typology; (1) the artifact must be made from bone, antler, or tooth; (2) the use of the artifact as determined from previous experimental archaeology or ethnography; (3) where artifacts were used for a similar purpose, obvious differences in shape and/ or decoration were used. Fifteen sites on the Oregon coast, two to four sites from each region, were used to develop the typology and test the hypothesis. Some patterns were apparent in the distribution of the artifact assemblages from the Oregon coast sites and there appeared to be some tentative corralation with the geographic regions as stated above. Bilaterally barbed harpoons only appear in sites in region 1. Headscratchers only appear in sites in the southern half of the Oregon coast. Evidence suggested that the composite toggling harpoon was developed in the northern northwest coast and was introduced 3000 or more years ago in region 1, and spread slowly down the Oregon coast until it reached region 3 and 4 only 500 years ago. / Graduation date: 1991

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

The search for archaeological materials dating to 15,000 yr BP along the southern Oregon coast is a formidable task. Using ethnographic, theoretical, and archaeological data, landscape resources which would have influenced land-use and occupation location decisions in the past are highlighted. Additionally, environmental data pertaining to the late Pleistocene is examined to determine what landscape features may have been used by human groups 15,000 years ago and to determine how these landscape features may have changed since that time. These landscape resource features are included in the modeling project as independent variables. The dependent variable in this modeling project is relative probability that an area will contain archaeological materials dating to the time period of interest. Two predictive locational models are created to facilitate the search process. These models mathematically combine the independent variables using two separate approaches. The hierarchical decision rule model approach assumes that decision makers in the past would have viewed landscape features sequentially rather than simultaneously. The additive, or weighted-value, approach assumes that a number of conditional preference aspects were evaluated simultaneously and that different environmental variables had varying amounts of influence on the locational choices of prehistoric peoples. Integration of the data and mathematical model structures into a Geographic Information System (GIS) allows for spatial analysis of the landscape and the prediction of locations most likely to contain evidence of human activity dating to 15,000 years ago. The process involved with variable integration into the GIS is delineated and results of the modeling procedures are presented in spatial, map-based formats. / Graduation date: 2002

xx, 463 p. : ill., maps. Two print copies of this title are available through the UO Libraries under the call number: KNIGHT E61 .W72 1989 / Western Clovis and Western Stemmed cultural traditions, archaeologically indexed by fluted (Clovis) and stemmed projectile point complexes, represent the earliest human occupation documented in Far Western North America. The temporal closeness of Western Clovis, dated roughly from 11,500 to 11,000 B.P., to Western Stemmed complexes known as early as 11,140 to 10,800 B.P., has generated debate over the age and historical relationship of these cultures. The frequent co-occurrence of fluted and stemmed points along the lowest strandlines in pluvial lake basins has also led scholars to hypothesize an early development of the characteristically "Archaic" lake-marsh adaptations known from later periods. Geoarchaeological research in the northern Alkali Lake Basin of south-central Oregon has addressed these issues of cultural chronology and economy by seeking data to test a paleoecological model of human land use in the basin from 11,500 to 7,000 B.P. The model posits a late Pleistocene Western Clovis settlement oriented to a small, shallow lake or pond, followed by an early Holocene Western Stemmed occupation around a much larger lake and marsh fringe. Data gathered through basin-wide site survey, stratigraphic studies, and high-resolution mapping of lake features and artifacts, support the model as proposed, and reveal a settlement pattern indicative of a "tethered" focus on local lake-marsh habitats. Research also verifies the horizontal separation of fluted and stemmed artifacts on different, sequent shorelines, indicating that Western Clovis occupation precedes Western Stemmed, although the two are close in time. Data from Alkali Basin, and elsewhere, support the notion that Far Western cultures developed broad-spectrum adaptations much earlier than was once thought. This implies that the foundations of the Western Archaic were already in place by 11,000 B.P. In keeping with the adaptive flexibility embodied within the Desert Culture concept, environmental data further suggest that this "paleo-Archaic" lifeway developed quickly, not gradually, in response to punctuated climatic change and the emerging mosaic of regional habitats which characterized the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary, at a time when the desert as we know it was just coming into being. / Adviser: Aikens, C. Melvin

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.

The present study was a response to the discovery of two artifacts found in a ditch wall near Harney Lake, Oregon. These were lying on a buried lake floor that appeared to be of late Pleistocene or early Recent age. Other sediments exposed in the ditch seemed to relate to at least some of the phases of the pluvial lake sequence in the Harney Basin. Three problems were considered: (1) the geomorphology and dating of the pluvial lake stillstands, (2) whether the original artifacts were part of a larger early site, and (3) whether there was any relationship between archaeological sites and geomorphic features in the area. These problems were approached in the field by stratigraphic mapping of exposed sediments and by an archaeological survey of a defined study area. Test excavations were made adjacent to the location of the original artifact discovery to search for other cultural material. Beachline records of four stillstands of Pluvial Lake Malheur are preserved in the exposed sediments. The youngest beachline is undated. Three others were 14C dated from associated fossil molluscs at 32,000, 9620 and 8680 B.P. At least in the case of the 8680 B.P. lake, the Harney Basin was filled to overflowing and was a part of the Columbia River system. The Voltage basalt flow, which dammed the outlet of the Basin in Malheur Gap, was in place by 32,000 years ago. There is no evidence for a diversion of the Basin outlet to Crane Gap following this event. Molluscan fossils and diatoms were used, along with soil texture analyses, to help identify and differentiate sedimentary deposits and to draw environmental inferences. Artifacts were found both on and beneath buried beach deposits of the 8680 B.P. lake. Four of the five sites in the study area were either on wave-cut terraces or other lakeshore features associated with this lake. Diagnostic artifacts are Lind Coulee points, crescents, basally ground leaf-shaped points, and what are apparently true blades. The sites seem to have been located to take advantage of shallow water littoral zone resources. Fish may have been an important dietary item of the early Harney Basin dwellers. Large salmonid vertebrae from fish in the 10 kg weight class are found on the playa. By using the relationship between landforms and elevations it may be possible to predict the general age class of other sites on the margin of the playas.

This project hypothesizes that the use of multiple ground-based remote sensing methods can collectively characterize the geophysical signatures of four marked human burials at the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians historic period cemetery. If the geophysical signatures of the marked burials can be characterized, these signatures may be used to located unmarked burials within the Siletz cemetery. To investigate this hypothesis, several research questions focused on the results from topographic, cesium gradiometer, and ground-penetrating radar surveys. A 15m x 15m region of the cemetery containing four marked burials defines the survey region. The results of each survey were individually and collectively examined to identify the characteristic geophysical signatures of the four marked burials. The topographic and magnetic surveys identified geophysical anomalies spatially associated with the some of the marked burials. The ground-penetrating radar survey was the most productive by identifying geophysical anomalies spatially associated with all four marked burials. Even though signals from the burials appeared with mixed results, it proved difficult to characterize the geophysical signatures of the burials in the individual and collective geophysical data. Without a characterization of the geophysical signature of the marked burials, it is difficult to identify unmarked burials at the Siletz cemetery. Due to the success of the radar at "seeing" all four marked burials it may be possible to identify areas free of unmarked burials. / Graduation date: 2001

This thesis is an examination and description of the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management's program for the management of cultural resources in the State of Oregon. The author has worked for the Bureau from March, 1975 to the present as a District cultural resource specialist. The major emphasis of the thesis is a description and explanation of the Bureau's cultural resource management program and its major problems in relation to the taxpayer and archaeologists.

A study was conducted in the Upper Klamath Basin, south-central Oregon, to test Luther s. Cressman' s hypothesis characterizing prehistoric Klamath Basin culture as having, from an early date, a marsh/riverine subsistence focus with long-term stability and a slow rate of internal change emphasizing intensification of the existing marsh/riverine utilization pattern. A subsistence/ settlement pattern model was developed to predict aboriginal site occurrence in the upper Klamath Basin.