Melanie Diedrich, of Archaeological Macroflora Identification (AMI) based in Olympia, WA., USA provdes soil processing services, identification of seeds and other plant remains, and artifact illustration services.

P.S. Since this is such a large file I placed it into Google Drive–to open click on Download, Download anyway, and Open to view.

I have also posted here a Useful Wet Site Research References reflecting ancient basketry research that has been conducted since 1977: Useful References for Wet Site Basketry Research and Reports since 1977 Ozette Dissertation

The patterns of inter-site comparisons in 1977 seem to be holding up–and the new data uncovered seems to only bolster these general patterns (even cladistic analyses).  Hope this is helpful to researchers–do let me know references I undoubtedly left out.  Thanks, Dale Croes

Today there has been a big revival of canoe carving and journeys along the Northwest Coast–called Canoe Journeys or Paddles.  The next one is a Paddle to Quinault this summer.  Thousands of mostly Native Peoples attend–all are welcome for a week of Potlatching.  Akira Matsui and his friends frequently visit our sites during the Canoe Journey (see his report here from last summer) so they can attend these huge celebrations. 

 A good web site from last year’s Paddle to Squaxin–the community I worked with on the Qwu?gwes Wet site–is:  http://paddletosquaxin2012.org/ and view their amazing photo gallery–and come this summer.  We can all camp together on the Washington West Coast for a week of celebration!  Aidan can bring his kids!  And Francesco can work on his new book–it will be an official NewsWARP Coordinator meeting with Akira and friends.  Dale

This artifact was one of the few composite artifacts, combining stone and fiber, found at Qwu?gwes.  It was constructed by attaching a stone pebble head to a red cedar split wood handle using cherry bark strips as the binding material.  Although this artifact was small, the discovery of a toy used in play by a child on the beach 600 years ago is a truly spectacular and very human find. For full report:  Toy War Club

This is a report from Akira Matsui’s and  colleagues’ recent visit to the Paddle to Squaxin and the Ozette site and museum, relating the 1700 mudslide at Ozette to the immediate aftermath of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake of 2011. Akira Matsui has reported the cultural resources damage of the 2011 earthquake in NewsWARP under Announcements. 

By Akira Matsui, Director, Center for Archaeological Operations, Nara National Cultural Properties, National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Nara, Japan and Asia NewsWARP Coordinator

 The Ozette site is not only a site rich with wooden items and basketry textiles in a state of preservation rarely seen around the world, it is also a site in which geology, seismology, tree-ring chronology, as well as the results of research into Japanese historical records regarding tsunamis have been masterfully synthesized to succeed in shedding light on its dramatic history. 

See full report in Japanese and English:  Japanese Version of Paper ; English Version of Paper–The Archeology of the Jomon Period and North American Northwest Coast–translated by Jaered and Dale Croes

 By Dale Croes

 Dale Croes, Wet Archaeological Site Specialist, was invited by Parks Canada to volunteer on an expanded investigation of the oldest and most important Northwest Coast wet site discovery. It took place during the lowest tides of the year last June 2012.

Kilgii Gwaay, dating to 10,700 years ago, contains a rich assemblage of stone tools, preserved bone artifacts and fauna and, so important to wet site specialists, wood/fiber artifacts.  The site is in the intertidal zone, so last spring during the lowest tide of the year, the crew visited this protected embayment on small Ellen island (Figure 1) on the southernmost Haida Gwaii (formerly call the Queen Charlette Islands), northern B.C. Canada. See illustrated report here:  Kilgii Gwaay Archaeological Wet Site–Spring 2012 Exceptional Faculty Award Report