Archaeological Investigations At 45wh81 Newhalem Washington PDF Download

Site 45-DO-285 is located at the north end of Buckley Bar, a landform in Rufus Woods Lake (Columbia River) at River Mile 587.5 near the Okanogan Highland-Columbia Plateau boundary. The site lies in an Upper Sonoran life zone. In 1979, the University of Washington excavated 137.2 cu m of site volume under contract to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, as part of a mitigation program associated with adding 10 ft to the operating level behind Chief Joseph Dam. Systematic, aligned random sampling of 1 x 1 x 0.1-m collection units in 1 x 2 or 2 x 2-m cells disclosed four prehistoric components contained in point bar and later overbank deposits. The first two components are best characterized as Late Hudnut Phase. Projectile point styles and a single radiocarbon date indicate that these older compnents date between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago. The earliest cultural material is contained in point bar sands and gravels and overbandk deposits; the later material in overbank deposits. Projectile point styles from the assemblages are similar to those of the Quilomene Bar Phase. The two more recent components are assigned to the Coyote Creek Phase. They contain projectile points similar to those found in the Cayuse Phase on the Middle Columbia and are dated by these styles and two radiocarbon dates to a period from 2000 B.P. to the protohistoric. (Author).