Lower Salmon RiverArchaeological Field School on Lower Salmon River Site in Idaho 2009 Tour schedule: Wednesday-Sunday, 7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. PDT (except 12-12:30 lunch break) through August 11. Oregon State University, under the direction of Dr. Loren Davis, has completed field work under a BLM challenge cost share agreement to perform archeological excavations on American Bar, a significant site along the Salmon River that is experiencing erosion. The site dates to at least 6,700 and 8,300 years old. Work in 2008 recovered significant data that was within inches of eroding out of six-foot tall vertical bank created by a bulldozer in 1974. A component designed into the project is public interpretation conducted by Dr. Davis and his graduate students. Dr. Davis prepared three posters for the public and conducted on-site tours to describe the need for the project and the BLM management responsibilities. About 160 people from 23 States, three foreign countries (the UK, France and Austria) and the Disctrict of Columbia toured last summer's dig site.
The seven-week field school, scheduled every summer, helps provide clues about how people lived in the canyon several thousand years ago. Human occupation of other sites in the canyon date back nearly 11,500 years ago. Determining the age of major landslides within the canyon has helped predict the location of prehistoric sites and the age of occupation. Dr. Davis, who started as a graduate student ten years ago with BLM Cottonwood Field Office archaeologist David Sisson, continues to work with BLM conducting research, writing papers and bringing students to the area who continue the work. News of the excavation draws many rafters to the site to hear Dr. Davis or his students explain the project and show findings such as stone tools, debitage from tool making, and mussels, which provide data on the area's paleoclimate. |
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More Links
Summary of Early Idaho Archaeologic Sites
Cultural Chronology of the Lower Salmon River (pdf), DAVIS, Loren G., Department of Anthropology, Oregon State University
Measuring Late Quaternary Geoecological Relationships In The Lower Salmon River Canyon, Idaho, DAVIS, Loren G., Department of Anthropology, Oregon State University
Geoarchaeological Perspectives and Archaeological Interpretations of Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Cultural Behavior in the Lower Salmon River Canyon, Idaho, DAVIS, Loren G., Department of Anthropology, Oregon State University
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Mussels record paleoclimates
Evidence of the past can be easily damaged by current activities. Along the Lower Salmon River the degree of damage from various sources of deterioration is accelerating. Thus, public land users must be more aware of what the cultural resources represent, how irreplaceable these resources are, and what actions each person can take to ensure evidence of past human activity is not destroyed. We hope your activities along the Lower Salmon River are enjoyable and that the people who preceded you left the environment in a condition suitable for your use, as we hope you leave it for those who follow you.
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