The Coast Reservation of Oregon was established under Executive Order of President Franklin Pierce in November, 1855, as a homeland for the southern Oregon tribes. It was an immense, isolated wilderness, parts of which had burned earlier in the century. There were some prairies where farming was possible, but because...
Cultural resource inventories have identified,205 individual sites
on public land along the Lower Salmon River, Idaho. These sites
represent a rich and diverse record of the human occupation and
utilization of the river canyon during the past 10,000 years. Each
of these 205 sites contains its own unique record of...
Using the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) this thesis shows that entomological information and material can be retrieved using current historical archaeological methods. Historical archaeology has the ability to uncover connections between arenas as varied, and seemingly isolated, as the honey bee, the environment, and human cultures. By focusing on...
There is a widespread problem with looting and vandalism of cultural resources in the Pacific Northwest. To combat this problem law enforcement must have the assistance of the archaeological community. To be able to assist law enforcement, archaeologists and cultural resource specialists must have the proper training in cultural resource...
The United States Forest Service's Passport In Time program is designed to involve the public in archaeology on National Forest land. Three of the program's goals are: 1) allow archaeologists to conduct research they would not otherwise have the time or the budget to conduct; 2) teach the public about...
For centuries humans have been searching for precious metals. The search for gold has greatly changed the landscape of the American West, beginning in the 1850s and continuing today. Various gold rushes around the country created mining colonies in remote areas, thereby connecting the frontier with the rest of America...
The Champoeg townsite first developed due to its ideal settlement and trade location within the Willamette Valley, becoming the ‘legal birthplace of Oregon’ in 1843. However, by 1860 Champoeg’s significance had begun to decline, and in December of 1861 a devastating flood wiped out the townsite. Archaeological excavations took place...
This thesis is a preliminary archaeological predictive model and project-planning
tool created for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) as part
of a statewide planning effort to enhance the agency's ability to assess the potential
impacts of highway projects on archaeological resources. This model addresses the
archaeological sensitivity of the...
The Battle of Big Bend was the last significant battle of the Rogue River Indian
Wars. The battle occurred 27-28 May 1856 in the Oregon Territory. The location of
the battle was along the Rogue River at a place known as the Big Bend, approximately
eight miles up river from...
Approximately 5,500 years ago a discreet period of
wetter and cooler environmental conditions prevailed
across the southern Columbia Plateau. This period was
marked by the first prominent episodes of erosion to occur
along the lower Snake River following the height of the
Altithermal and eruption of Mt. Mazama during the...