Cellular ID of Wood/Fiber Artifacts and Charcoal from NW Coast Wet Sites

The procedure of identifying wood and fiber materials by microscopic cellular analysis on the Northwest Coast of North America from a number of recent wet site is reported, describing the microscopic differences between species of wood, basketry and cordage construction materials, and cultural charcoal. This technique has also been expanded to include the identification of cultural charcoal, adding insights into the use of fuelwoods by ancient peoples, as well as adding to the environmental knowledge of the flora of the time periods and regions examined.  The cellular identification of ancient vegetal material culture is complementary to information found in ethnobotanies and oral traditions, identifying traditional plant materials; as well as revealing new uses of plant materials:  Wet Site Wood-Fiber and Charcoal Cellular ID–Hawes

 Wood and fiber cellular identification and fuelwood charcoal speciation currently are services offered by the South Puget Sound Archaeological Training Laboratory (see Wet Site Services menu in NewsWARP.  If you have any questions on your own samples or these services, contact researcher Kathleen Hawes at:  aragalen@msn.com.

Sunken Village Collaborative Effort Featured in Yomiuri Shinbun Newspaper

Our joint SPSCC/AINW/Japanese/Tribes project at the Sunken Village wet site in 2007 was featured in a column written by project sponsor, Akira Matsui, in the popular Yomiuri Shinbun Newspaper, with a circulation of  over 100 million–called the biggest newspaper in the world.  The interest in archaeology by the Japanese population is reflected in these frequent news stories on archaeology in the popular press:  Akira Matsui article–translation 2-18-08 by Jaered and Dale Croes 2

Sunken Village Wet Site, Oregon, USA–Synthesis in JWA9

 Volume 9 of the Journal of Wetland Archaeology is dedicated to the well-preserved wet site of Sunken Village, on the southern end of Sauvie Island, Portland, Oregon, USA.  Sunken Village is one of only ca. 250 archaeological sites in the USA to have been given National Historic Landmark status.

Sunken Village (35MU4) represents the largest known acorn leaching pit site in the North America. During the low waters of September 2007, the international team of Japanese, U.S. and Tribal archaeologist mapped over 110 hemlock bough lined pits containing remnant of numerous waterlogged acorns, as well as basketry fragments, wooden wedges and abundant wood and fiber debitage. We estimate that, if all pits recorded were used, over 2.5 million acorns could be leached in a season at this site.

One fragile and ancient diamond-plaited soft flat bag recovered has drawn attention from regional basketry experts in the desert west of the U.S.A. Great Basin, through Jomon period wet site specialists in Japan.  This distinct basketry type is recorded for up to 9,000 years in cave sites in the state of Nevada, U.S.A through Klamath and Puget Sound Native American modern collects in Northwestern U.S.A..  In Japan these diamond-plaited soft bags are seen associated with acorn pit waterlogged sites from 7,000 years ago through Ainu modern collections. We have used cladistic analyses to associate ancient Northwest Coast basketry through over 2,800 museum baskets collections, and plan to expand that sample into the contact and ancient U.S. Great Basin and Japanese Jomon basketry.  We hope this will demonstrate the first concrete evidence of a broad Pacific and very ancient cultural sharing, where ideas moved rapidly throughout the North Pacific Basin, as demonstrated through the use of acorn pit processing/storage, and with the sharing of distinct styles of basketry around at least the North Pacific.

To order:  http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/86051/Location/DBBC

Sunken Village Publication Out Now

Fishing Weirs in Surprising Settings

Recent excavations at two U.S. coastal Oregon sites have identified wood stake fishing weirs in surprising settings.   One is in a narrow channel under a concrete bridge, and the other is in a former dairy farm pasture.  In many ways these weirs are typical of the 65 intertidal fishing weir sites I recorded as part of my dissertation research in the 1990s, but their locations are somewhat surprising.  For complete report see:  Fishing Weirs in Unexpected Settings 3-8-10

Close to 100 archaeological fishing weir sites have been recorded on the Oregon State coast, USA, since 1993.  In many areas weirs are now more common than any other site type. 

The scope of research topics that can be addressed involving weirs is also growing, as exemplified by Robert Losey of the University of Alberta, Canada, in the current issue of Cambridge Archaeological Journal:  http://journals.cambridge.org/action/quickSearch?inputField1=Robert+Losey&quickSearchType=search_journal&fieldStartMonth=01&fieldStartYear=1800&fieldEndMonth=12&fieldEndYear=2010&searchType=ADVANCESEARCH&fieldScjrnl=All&fieldSccats=All&selectField1=%23

Scott Byram

Byram Archaeological Consulting and

Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley

Recent Japan–NW Coast Wet Site Exchanges

During the Spring and Summer of 2009 several exchanges were made between the research teams of Akira Matsui, Naoto Yamamoto and Dale Croes.  Following their joint-excavations of Sunken Village, Portland, OR. USA and reporting this work in JWA9 (see Publications), an increased interest in visiting wet sites and wet site collections on both sides of the Pacific initiated several visits. 

First the Japanese wet site archaeologists visited Northwest Museum collections in Washington, USA and British Columbia, Canada. Then U.S. and Canadian wet site researchers visited museum and wet sites throughout southern Japan.  In the summer of 2009 Japanese archaeologists and their graduate students visited and participated in the Qwu?gwes wet site field school.

The following report was developed for local archaeological newsletters and decribes the visits, exchanges, and expanded understanding of cultural sharing throughout the Pacific through wet site excavations.

JAPAN-NW COAST WET SITE EXCHANGES