Sunken Village, Sauvie Island, Oregon, USA, A Report on the 2006-2007 Investigations of National Historic Landmark Wet Site 35MU4

Dale R. Croes; John L. Fagan; Maureen Newman Zehendner

doi:10.7273/000007025

The Lower Columbia River section of the Northwest Coast of North America is thought to have had one of the highest population densities north of Mexico during aboriginal times (Darby 2005; Pettigrew 1977, 1990; Silverstein 1990), yet it has only been in recent years that Chinookan sites and culture have been the focus of concentrated research efforts by professionals. Archaeological studies in the Portland Basin, U.S.A. from the mid-1980’s to the present under the direction of Dr. Kenneth M. Ames of Portland State University (PSU) have provided substantive new data for interpreting the region. Much of the research has focused on household archaeology at the large village sites of Meier (35CO5; Ames 1994; Ames and Maschner 1999) and Cathlapotle (45CL1; Ames et al. 1998, 1999). Just south of these major village sites, on the southern end of Sauvie Island, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. is the well-preserved wet site of Sunken Village (35MU4), placed on the National Historic Landmark registration by Dr. Ames and Maureen Newman Zehendner (Newman 1991). Only about 250 archaeological sites in the U.S.A. are given National Historic Landmark status, and Sunken Village site achieved this status from over 50 years of erosion and collecting at the site, not systematic excavation or professional investigations. In September of 2006 and 2007 the first systematic testing and recording of this waterlogged wetland site finally happened as a cooperative U.S. and Tribal and international archaeological effort. The mapping of 60 acorn leaching pits and well-preserved basketry in 2006 caught the interest of Japanese researchers working with similar wet sites from ancient Jomon Japan, and they offered and sponsored the extended field work in 2007. With combined limited resources, and the typically resulting abundant wood and fiber artifacts from well-preserved wet sites, we felt it important to promptly report this initial and exciting first look at one of the most significant wetland sites on the Northwest Coast of North America, and fortunately we can share this comprehensive work with an international audience through the Journal of Wetland Archaeology. Sunken Village (35MU4) represents the largest known acorn leaching pit site in North America. During the low waters of September 2007, the international team of Japanese, U.S. and Tribal archaeologists mapped over 110 hemlock bough lined pits containing remnants 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.A. 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. The Sunken Village report is set up in six synthetic sections, starting with the above Section 1 general introduction, forward and listing of the contributors that made this examination possible on a very limited budget. Section 2 introduces the physical setting of this pivotal location, at the junction of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, and how this unique location contributes to the cultural importance of this historic Chinookan trade center on the Northwest Coast of North America. The historic developments in the Sunken Village area are discussed, affecting the archaeological wet site and originally revealing its uniqueness through over fifty years of vandalism and collecting. The archaeological sequence setting is set forth as well. Section 3 outlines the 2006 and 2007 first systematic archaeological investigations of the Sunken Village NHL wet site, followed by the overall geoarchaeological interpretation of the wet site from test excavations, ground penetrating radar and deep-coring. Section 4 considers the floral and faunal remains, and especially the focus of the site use, the leaching of millions of acorns in pits. Section 5 details the rich wood, fiber, lithic and bone artifacts, especially the sensitive basketry artifacts. And Section 6 synthesizes the array of data considered and summarizes the ecological, artifactual, and functional context of this newly investigated and much better understood local, regional and Pacific-wide bridging wet archaeological site. An extensive data appendix is included here.

Sunken Village, Sauvie Island, Oregon, USA, A Report on the 2006-2007 Investigations of National Historic Landmark Wet Site 35MU4

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