The Oregon Coast Archaeological Survey and

the National Register of Historic Places: An Update

Madonna L. Moss and Jon M. Erlandson

University of Oregon

Presented at the Fall Meeting of the Association of Oregon Archaeologists, November 8, 2002

sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management, Salem, OR

In 1991, Lee Lyman published Prehistory of the Oregon Coast, a book that summarized the status of Oregon Coast archaeology and helped stimulate further research on a variety of issues. As a benchmark for measuring progress during the 1990s, Lyman listed approximately 50 Oregon Coast sites excavated in the previous 120 years, and 123 radiocarbon dates available for 25 coast sites.

During the 1990s, University of Oregon archaeologists from the Department of Anthropology have obtained grants and contracts, mostly from the State Historic Preservation Office, but also from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Science Foundation, and Coquille Indian Tribe, to support a number of archaeological projects on the Oregon Coast. The most comprehensive of these was a coast-wide survey, evaluation, and dating project that culminated in the listing of 89 Native American archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. These sites were part of a Multiple Property Submission to the National Register, and this document now serves as means by which other sites can be fairly easily added to the National Register. A second phase of the project began in 1998, directed by Erlandson, with the assistance of Scott Byram, Rob Losey, and Mark Tveskov. The focus of this work was to evaluate, map, and radiocarbon date Oregon coast wood stake fishing weirs and traps along with several shell middens not previously nominated and add them to the NRHP multiple property submission.

Most of the funding came from Historic Preservation Fund Grants-in-Aid provided by the National Park Service (U.S. Department of Interior) and the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, with additional support from the University of Oregon. All this work occurred under the administration of our State Archaeologist, Leland Gilsen, to whom we are very grateful for this long-term support. Kimberly Dunn and the now retired Elisabeth Potter also provided critical assistance. We wanted to review some of this history with you today for two main reasons: 1) you too can get HPF Grants-in-Aid to do good things, and 2) you too can add coastal archaeological sites to the NRHP under the aegis of our Multiple Property Listing. It is important to note that the HPF Grants-in-Aid require a 50% match from the recipient. In our cases, the bulk of this match was contributed labor on our part and that of our students.

Summary of Accomplishments

A compilation of these products is presented at the end of this talk, with the intent that this might serve as a useful reference to others working on the Oregon Coast.

Dissertations

In his dissertation, The Coos and Coquille: a Northwest Coast Historical Anthropology, Mark Tveskov studied eight archaeological sites and numerous ethnohistorical locations within the territory of the Coos and Coquille Indians. He re-visited Cressman’s collections from the Bandon Sandspit site (35-CS-5), re-analyzed the artifacts, and identified 2,857 previously under-reported faunal remains. He re-analyzed archaeological findings from the K’ama’c dun site complex (35-CS-1, 2, 3, and 130) within both its changing geomorphological and historical context. He also conducted excavations at five additional sites, analyzed 437 formal artifacts, 3086 pieces of lithic debitage, and 20,893 vertebrate faunal remains. The overall goal of the dissertation was to document the way of life of the Coos and Coquille prior to Euro-american contact and then document the full implications of colonialism into the latter half of the 19th century.

In his work, Brush Fences and Basket Traps: the Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Tidewater Weir Fishing on the Oregon Coast, Scott Byram focused on variation in wood stake fishing weir technologies. He has compiled an exhaustive account of largely unpublished archival oral history related to tidewater weir fishing. He surveyed 13 Oregon estuaries, and found fishing weirs in Nehalem, Netarts, Yaquina, and Coos bays, and the lower reaches of the Siuslaw and Coquille rivers. Ten years ago, only six of the 72 archaeological weir sites he has reported were known. His work also produced 81 new radiocarbon dates from these sites. Over 80% of the dates are from the last 1000 years, with earlier dates distributed evenly over the period between 3400-1000 BP. Byram has argued that contrary to general understandings about fishing weirs, the Oregon coast tidal weirs were used throughout the year to harvest a diversity of fishes including herring, sardine, smelt, and salmon.

Rob Losey’s dissertation, Communities and Catastrophe: Tillamook Response to the AD 1700 Earthquake and Tsunami, Northern Oregon Coast, will be defended on 11/22/02. He has focused on sites in Netarts and Nehalem bays to examine the effects of the AD 1700 earthquake and tsunami on the Tillimook people. Many archaeologists have portrayed earthquakes as catastrophes, emphasizing their destructive impacts. Losey has evaluated the ethnographic records of the Tillamook and the oral traditions of people along the southern Northwest Coast to assess Native perceptions, explanations, and responses to earthquakes. He focused on the Netarts Sandspit site (35-TI-1) and a number of sites in Nehalem Bay. From careful studies of stratigraphy and site formation, along with radiocarbon dating, he was able to identify components dating to before and after the earthquake. Losey analyzed 62,156 vertebrate specimens from his excavations at TI-1; 90% of these were small estuarine fish. He also identified 5,108 specimens from the 1950s. The faunal assemblages from the Nehalem sites were far smaller, but their artifact inventories were larger, so studies of sites in these two bays complement one another. Losey documents some relatively subtle changes in subsistence in Netarts Bay, but overall he argues that the results of the AD 1700 earthquake were not catastrophic. Losey concludes that people of the southern Northwest Coast and the ecosystems of which they were a part, were more resilient to earthquake hazards than previously portrayed.

Taken together, these three dissertations have made significant contributions to our knowledge of the long-term history of Oregon Coast Native Americans. We are particularly proud of how each of these scholars has integrated information from ethnographic, oral historical, ethnohistorical, and historical sources into these archaeological studies. Each study has also produced something of value to the Indian Tribes in the respective areas under study, and in this way, they are superb examples of the potential of archaeological research. In this short time, we have not been able to do justice to all the great data in these three works, but we hope enough has been said to pique your interest, and motivate you to peruse them when you have the opportunity.

The National Register

We would like to close with a word about the value of listing properties on the National Register. We all know that the section 106 process only requires that sites be National Register-eligible, not that they be listed on the Register for consideration in the planning of federal projects. The National Register listing is predominantly honorific, although it does qualify listed properties for specific grants "when funds are available." It is still true, however, that the majority of properties listed on the Register are historic buildings and sites of post-contact, non-Native origin. We maintain that the honorific function of the National Register is important, and that by listing Native American sites on the National Register we can promote their importance to the public as properties worthy of respect and preservation.

Finally, we would like to extend our deep thanks to Le Gilsen for actively supporting and facilitating the work described today.

Technical Reports Available from SHPO (listed chronologically):

Erlandson, J. M., R. S. Byram, R. J. Losey, and M. A. Tveskov 1999 Oregon Coast Archaeological Survey: Summary of 1998-1999 Historic Preservation Grant Activities. Report submitted under Historic Preservation Grant-in-Aid #9808 to the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, Salem.

Moss, M. L. and J. M. Erlandson 1997 Native American Archaeological Sites of the Oregon Coast, National Register of Historic Places, Multiple Property Submission. (listed on the National Register 9/10/97).

Byram, R. S. and J. M. Erlandson 1996 Fishing Technologies at a Coquille River Wet Site: the 1994-1995 Osprey Site Archaeological Project. Ms. on file, Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, Salem.

Tveskov, M., J. M. Erlandson, and M. L. Moss 1996 Archaeological Investigations at the Coquille Point Site (35CS136), Coos County, Oregon. Coastal Prehistory Program, Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon. Report submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, OR, and the Coquille Indian Tribe, Coos Bay, OR.

Moss, M., M. Tveskov, and J. Erlandson 1995 Report of Emergency Field Investigations and Data Recovery Plan for Archaeological Site 35CS136, Coquille Point, Bandon, Oregon. Report submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, OR.

Moss, M. L. and J. M. Erlandson 1995 An Evaluation, Survey, and Dating Program for Archaeological Sites on State Lands of the Northern Oregon Coast, with reports on Archaeological Surveys of South Slough (Coos Bay) and of Intertidal Fishing Sites. Report submitted under Historic Preservation Grant-in-Aid to the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, Salem.

Moss, M. L. and J. M. Erlandson 1994 An Evaluation, Survey, and Dating Program for Archaeological Sites on State Lands of the Southern Oregon Coast. Report submitted under Historic Preservation Grant-in-Aid to the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, Salem.

Erlandson, J. and M. L. Moss 1993 An Evaluation, Survey, and Dating Program for Archaeological Sites on State Lands of the Central Oregon Coast. Report submitted under Historic Preservation Grant-in-Aid #9202 to the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, Salem.

Grant History:

1999 Archaeology of the Cascadia Subduction Zone: Cultural Responses to Coseismic Subsidence, Tsunamis, and Earthquakes on the Southern Northwest Coast. National Science Foundation. Dissertation Improvement Grant awarded to R. Losey, M. Moss, Principal Investigator ($11,399).

1998 An Archaeological Survey and National Register Nomination for Native American Archaeological Sites of the Oregon Coast. Historic Preservation Fund, Oregon State Historic Preservation Office, Grant awarded to J. Erlandson ($18,866).

1997 Radiocarbon Dating the Wood Stake Fishing Weirs of Haynes Inlet, Coos Bay, Oregon. Coquille Indian Tribe. Grant awarded to J. Erlandson and M. Tveskov ($2000).

1996 An Archaeological Data Recovery Program for 35LNC72, Yachats Trail 804, Lincoln County, Oregon. Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department. Grant award to J. Erlandson ($2250).

1995 A Survey, Dating, and Multiple Property National Register Nomination Program for Coastal Archaeological Sites on Oregon State Lands. Historic Preservation Fund, Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. Grant awarded to M. Moss and J. Erlandson ($25,777).

1994 An Evaluation and Dating Program for Oregon Coast Archaeological Sites. Historic Preservation Fund, Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. Grant awarded to M. Moss and J. Erlandson ($28,384).

1993. An Evaluation and Dating Program for Oregon Coast Archaeological Sites. Historic Preservation Fund, Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. Grant awarded to J. Erlandson and M. Moss ($23,687).

1992 An Evaluation and Dating Program for Oregon Coast Archaeological Sites. Historic Preservation Fund, Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. Grant awarded to J. Erlandson and M. Moss ($19,895).

Master’s Papers and Ph.D Dissertations:

Byram, R. Scott (2002) Brush Fences and Basket Traps: the Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Tidewater Weir Fishing on the Oregon Coast. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oregon.

Erickson, Lori (1997) Marine Resource Use at the Devil’s Elbow Site, 35-LA-17S, Lane County, OR. University of Oregon. Master’s Paper, University of Oregon.

Hodges, Charles (1996) Evidence and Inquiry: Geoarchaeological Reconstructions and Oregon Coast Prehistory. Master’s Paper, University of Oregon.

Losey, R. (1996) Fishing on the Lower Coquille River: a Zooarchaeological Perspective. Master’s Paper, University of Oregon.

Losey, R. (December, 2002) Communities and Catastrophe: Tillamook Response to the AD 1700 Earthquake and Tsunami, Northern Oregon Coast. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oregon.

Tveskov, M. (2000) The Coos and Coquille: a Northwest Coast Historical Anthropology. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Oregon.

Articles, Book Chapters, etc.:

Byram, R. S. 1998 Fishing Weirs in Oregon Coast Estuaries. In Hidden Dimensions: the Cultural Significance of Wetland Archaeology, edited by Kathryn Bernick, pp. 199-219. University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver.

Byram, R. S. and R. Witter 2000 Wetland Landscapes and Archaeological Sites in the Coquille Estuary, Middle Holocene to Recent Times. In Changing Landscapes: the Coquille Indian Tribe's Culture Conference, edited by R. Losey pp. 60-81. Coquille Indian Tribe, North Bend, OR.

Connolly, T. J. and R. S. Byram 1997 Oregon Wet Site Basketry: a Review of Structural Types. In Contributions to Oregon Archaeology, edited by A. C. Oetting, Association of Oregon Archaeologists Occasional Paper No. 6.

Erlandson, J. M. and M. L. Moss 1999 The Systematic Use of Radiocarbon Dating in Archaeological Surveys in Coastal and Other Erosional Environments. American Antiquity 64(3):431-443.

Erlandson, J. M. and M. L. Moss 1995 Chronology and Subsistence Change at the Oceanside Site (35-TI-47), Tillamook County, Oregon. Northwest Anthropological Research Notes 29(2):221-227.

Erlandson, J. M., R. Losey, M. L. Moss and M. A. Tveskov 2002 A Radiocarbon Chronology for the Bullards Beach Site (35-CS-2/3), A Lower Coquille Village in Coos County, Southern Oregon Coast. Journal of Northwest Anthropology 36(1):113-124.

Erlandson, J. M., R. J. Losey, and N. Petersen 2001 Early Maritime Contact on the Northern Oregon Coast: Some Notes on the 17th Century Nehalem Beeswax Ship. In Changing Landscapes: Telling Our Stories, edited by J. Younker, M .A. Tveskov, and D. Lewis, pp. 45-53. Coquille Indian Tribe, North Bend, OR.

Erlandson, Jon M., Mark A. Tveskov, and Scott Byram 1998 The Development of Maritime Adaptations on the Southern Northwest Coast of North America. Arctic Anthropology 35(1):6-22.

Erlandson, J. M., M. A. Tveskov and M. L. Moss 1997 Return to Chetlessenten: the Antiquity and Architecture of an Athapaskan Village on the Southern Northwest Coast. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 19(2):226-240.

Erlandson, J. M., M. Tveskov, M. L. Moss, and G. B. Wasson, Jr. 2000 Riverine Erosion and Oregon Coast Archaeology: a Pistol River Case Study. In Changing Landscapes: the Coquille Indian Tribe's Culture Conference, edited by R. Losey pp. 3-18. Coquille Indian Tribe, North Bend, OR.

Ivy, D. and R. S. Byram 2001 Coquille Cultural Heritage and Wetland Archaeology. In Enduring Records: the Environmental and Cultural Heritage of Wetlands, edited by B. A. Purdy, pp. 120-131. Oxbow Books, Oxford, Great Britain.

Losey, R. J. 2001 Oral Tradition of Earthquakes and Tsunamis on the Central Cascadia Coast: Variation of Accounts and Relations to Historically Observed Patterns across the Northwest Coast. . In Changing Landscapes: Telling Our Stories, edited by J. Younker, M .A. Tveskov, and D. Lewis, pp. 3-15. Coquille Indian Tribe, North Bend, OR.

Losey, R., J. M. Erlandson, and M. L. Moss 2000 Assessing the Impacts of Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquakes on the People and Landscapes of the Northwest Coast. In Changing Landscapes: the Coquille Indian Tribe's Culture Conference, edited by R. Losey pp. 124-142. Coquille Indian Tribe, North Bend, OR.

Losey, R., N. Stenholm, P. Whereat-Phillips, and H. Vallianatos (in press) Exploring the Use of Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) on the Southern Northwest Coast of North America. Journal of Archaeological Science.

Moss, M. L. 1994 Luther Cressman and the Coastal Prehistory Program. Current Archaeological Happenings in Oregon 19(4):4-8.

Moss, M. L. and J. M. Erlandson 1999 Radiocarbon Dates from Native American Archaeological Sites on the Oregon Coast. Current Archaeological Happenings in Oregon 24(3):20-24.

Moss, M. L. and J. M. Erlandson 1998 Early Holocene Adaptations of the Southern Northwest Coast. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 20(1):13-25.

Moss, M. L. and J. M. Erlandson 1998 A Comparative Chronology of Northwest Coast Fishing Features. In Hidden Dimensions: the Cultural Significance of Wetland Archaeology, edited by Kathryn Bernick, pp. 180-198. University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver.

Moss, M. L. and J. M. Erlandson 1997 Eighty-Nine Oregon Coast Archaeological Sites Added to the National Register. Current Archaeological Happenings in Oregon 22(4):3-4.

Moss, M. L. and George B. Wasson, Jr. 1998 Intimate Relations with the Past: the Story of an Athapaskan Village on the Southern Northwest Coast of North America. World Archaeology 29(3):317-332.

Tveskov, M. A. 2001 "A Most Horrid Massacre:" The American Settlement of Coos County Oregon. . In Changing Landscapes: Telling Our Stories, edited by J. Younker, M .A. Tveskov, and D. Lewis, pp. 55-68. Coquille Indian Tribe, North Bend, OR.

Tveskov, M. A. 2000 The Bandon Sandspit Site: The Archaeology of a Proto-Historic Coquille Indian Village. In Changing Landscapes: the Coquille Indian Tribe's Culture Conference, edited by R. Losey pp. 43-59. Coquille Indian Tribe, North Bend, OR.

Tveskov, M. A. and J. M. Erlandson (in review) The Haynes Inlet Weirs: Estuarine Fishing and Archaeological Site Visibility on the Southern Cascadia Coast. Journal of Archaeological Science.