Deni Mitchell, Kitty Bernick, & Scott Byram cleaning latticework from Osprey Weir Site, photo by M. Moss
|
Deni Mitchell, Kitty Bernick, & Scott Byram cleaning latticework from Osprey Weir Site, photo by M. Moss |
2008 update: The historic context statement for the National Register of Historic Places multiple property submission for Native American Sites on the Oregon Coast has just been published to facilitate broader use. Please see:
On September 10, 1997, 89 Native American archaeological sites of the Oregon Coast were added to the National Register of Historic Places. The sites were part of a multiple property submission prepared by Professors Madonna L. Moss and Jon M. Erlandson of the University of Oregon. The individual National Register sites are listed by Oregon county on the National Register Information System that can be found at http://www.nr.nps.gov/
The 650+ page nomination was the culmination of a 4-year project directed by Erlandson and Moss to survey, radiocarbon date, and evaluate archaeological sites in Oregon Coast State Parks for their eligibility to the National Register. This work was supported by Historic Preservation Fund Grants-in-Aid administered by the State Historic Preservation Office, with the assistance of Dr. Leland Gilsen, Kimberley Dunn, and Elisabeth Potter. The sites are located in 31 State Parks in Clatsop, Tillamook, Lincoln, Lane, Coos, and Curry counties.
Over the course of the project about 100 known archaeological sites in coastal State Parks were evaluated, following up on Dr. Rick Minor's 1986 report of State Parks sites. With the assistance of University of Oregon graduate students and members of the Coquille Indian Tribe, Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw, and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz, we documented 64 additional coastal archaeological sites on and off State lands. We have now obtained over 220 radiocarbon dates from these sites, more than three times the previous number of radiocarbon dates for Oregon Coast sites. Only those sites located on State Parks lands were included in the nomination. Prior to this work, only four Native American archaeological sites in coastal State Parks were listed on the National Register. Altogether, there are now 93 coastal archaeological sites in State Parks listed on the National Register.
The property types represented include:
An individual site can have multiple property types represented, and in fact 30 sites have more than one property type present. Of the new sites recorded but not included in the nomination, most are intertidal fishing weirs and traps, a site type typically not found in State Parks, but common on State Tidelands. Over 50 of these sites are now recorded for the Oregon Coast, due to the hard work of R. Scott Byram, Mark Tveskov, and other University of Oregon graduate students. In the next year, we hope to add a substantial sample of Oregon Coast fishing weir sites to the National Register nomination.
Our National Register nomination is comprised of two major parts: a 75-page historic context statement, and the individual National Register forms for each of the 89 sites. We hope the historic context statement will be of use to other archaeologists working on the Oregon Coast, since it provides a streamlined framework for listing additional National Register-eligible sites. It discusses previous coastal research, outlines major chronological time periods, defines site types, and discusses the nature of the scientific data contained in these sites. This part of the document also describes both the scientific and humanistic significance of the Oregon Coast sites and the factors that currently threaten them. Please contact Le Gilsen, State Archaeologist, for a copy of the historic context statement. Individual site forms may also be helpful for researchers working in specific areas.
Listing on the National Register should provide increased protection for these Native American archaeological sites of the Oregon Coast. We hope that federal and state agencies will provide support for further research on these key sites, especially those threatened by erosion, development, and looting. Listing the sites has also raised the profile of these resources to State Parks administrators, and we trust that every effort will be made to insure their long term preservation and protection.
Erlandson, Jon M., Robert Losey, Madonna L. Moss and Mark 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, Jon M. and Madonna L. Moss 2001 Shellfish Feeders, Carrion Eaters, and the Archaeology of Aquatic Adaptations. American Antiquity 66(3):413-432.
Erlandson, Jon M. and Madonna L. Moss 1999 The Systematic Use of Radiocarbon Dating in Archaeological Surveys in Coastal and Other Erosional Environments. American Antiquity 64(3):431-443.
Moss, Madonna L. and Jon M. Erlandson 1998 Early Holocene Adaptations of the Southern Northwest Coast. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 20(1):13-25.
Moss, Madonna 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.
Moss, Madonna L. and Jon 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.
Erlandson, Jon M., Mark A. Tveskov and Madonna 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, Jon M. and Madonna L. Moss 1996 The
Pleistocene - Holocene Transition along the Pacific Coast of North
America. In Humans at the End of the Ice Age: the Archaeology of
the Pleistocene - Holocene Transition, edited by Lawrence Straus,
B. Eriksen, J.M. Erlandson, and D.R. Yesner, pp. 277-301. Plenum
Press, New York.
Moss, Madonna L. and Jon M. Erlandson 1995
Reflections on North American Pacific Coast Prehistory. Journal of
World Prehistory 9(1):1-45.
Erlandson, Jon M. and Madonna 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, Jon M., Mark Tveskov, Madonna L. Moss, and George 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 Robert Losey pp. 3-18. Coquille Indian Tribe, North Bend, OR.
Losey, Robert, Jon M. Erlandson, and Madonna 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 Robert Losey pp. 124-142. Coquille Indian Tribe, North Bend, OR.
Moss, Madonna L. and Jon M. Erlandson 1997 Native
American Archaeological Sites of the Oregon Coast, National Register
of Historic Places, Multiple Property Submission. (600+ pages,
submitted to the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office and Oregon
State Historic Sites Advisory Committee 8/31/96, revision submitted
5/6/97, listed on the National Register 9/10/97).
Moss, Madonna L. and Jon M. Erlandson 1997
Eighty-Nine Oregon Coast Archaeological Sites Added to the National
Register. Current Archaeological Happenings in Oregon
22(4):3-4.
Erlandson, Jon M. and Madonna L. Moss 1997
Breaking Down the Border: Towards a More Integrated Archaeology of
the Southern Northwest Coast. In Proceedings of the Society for
California Archaeology vol. 10, edited by Judyth Reed, Greg
Greenway, and Kevin McCormick, pp. 169-176. Society for California
Archaeology, San Diego, CA.
Moss, Madonna L. 1994 Review of Prehistory of the
Oregon Coast, by R. Lee Lyman. North American Archaeologist
15(2):182-191.
Moss, Madonna L. 1994 Luther Cressman and the
Coastal Prehistory Program. Current Archaeological Happenings in
Oregon 19(4):4-8.
Erlandson, Jon M., Robert Losey, Madonna L. Moss
and Mark A. Tveskov n.d. A Radiocarbon Chronology for the Bullards
Beach Site (35-CS-2/3), A Lower Coquille Village in Coos County,
Southern Oregon Coast. Northwest Anthropological Research
Notes. submitted December 16, 1997.
Tveskov, Mark, Jon M. Erlandson, and Madonna 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, Madonna L. and Jon 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.
Moss, Madonna L. and Jon 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.
Erlandson, Jon and Madonna 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.