FINAL ANNUAL REPORT HOKO RIVER ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT: Phase XIV, March 1, 1985 to June 1, 1986

Dale R. Croes

doi:10.7273/000008049

Excavation of the Deep Interior (Zone 1) of the Hoko River Rockshelter: Upon successfully obtaining private matching funds from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and the Caughey Foundation, the remaining National Endowment for the Humanities treasury funds allowed us to return to the field in the summer of 1985 and properly complete an adequate sample of Zone 1, the deep-interior of the Hoko River Rockshelter site (45CA21; Figure 14). Unlike the highly complex living floor deposits (Zone 2) and the dispersed and generally trampled exterior midden (Zone 3), the Zone 1 deep-interior contained a unique distribution of untrampled (uncrushed) shell midden deposits extending back 4 meters below a low ceiling (in some areas only 20 cm above the surface). These deep-interior layers exhibited unique deposits, unlike anything observed in Zones 2 and 3, providing a distinct perspective on the area immediately behind, but stratigraphically interconnected with zone 2 living floor surfaces. In terms of a preliminary functional overview of this rich area, we record a deep-interior used to (a) discard refuse, (b) cache and store equipment (possibly between seasons) and (c), as it filled toward the ceiling, an area used by the camp dogs. These unique deposits contained an abundance of uncrushed, whole shell, not typical of trampled living floors (Zone 2) and outer refuse areas (Zone 3) (Figure 14). Even intact sea urchin shells were common, a faunal remain always finely crushed in other areas of the site. These Zone 1 back layers were therefore carefully sampled. For example, 100% of the whole shell in a .5 M (1/2 trench) were collected from the front edge to the back. Ninety five level bags of whole mussel and clam shells were recovered (approximately 14,220 whole specimens); therefore we have conducted analysis on the numbers and age-at-harvest changes of species by layer and through time, possibly demonstrating periods of shellfish over-exploitation (see Hurst, this report). Additionally these samples provide much improved data for determining seasonality of rockshelter use. Five to ten percent (approximately 7%) by volume of Zone 1 deep-interior was sampled through the 1985 summer's excavation, comparable to the Zone 2 (approximately 11%) and 3 (approximately 7%) samples (Figure 14). Therefore we can confidently report after 5 seasons of careful excavation, that we have properly and effectively sampled the entire Hoko River Rockshelter site, a complex responsibility we accepted six years ago, on a year-by-year support basis, and with great pleasure, and relief of yearly anxiety, report done. We hope now to focus on an overall site complex synthesis and have submitted a proposed plan to prepare this compilation of 13 years of research involving two sites and 3,000 years of well-preserved Northwest Coast prehistory (NEH Log No.: R0-21468).

FINAL ANNUAL REPORT HOKO RIVER ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT: Phase XIV, March 1, 1985 to June 1, 1986

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