[Aztlan] FOUR OBSIDIAN CLOVIS POINTS FOUND IN OREGON

[michael ruggeri]

Projectile points look old, old, old
Second site - Archaeologists suspect fluted obsidian tools date  
almost to the last ice age
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
RICHARD L. HILL
The Oregonian
Archaeologists working in south-central Oregon's sagebrush steppes  
have found signs of some of the region's earliest inhabitants.

Researchers from the University of Oregon and U.S. Bureau of Land  
Management have uncovered four fluted projectile points and related  
artifacts at a remote site near Riley. The obsidian points could be  
12,000 years old, but the archaeologists are being cautious about  
giving an exact age until they're able to obtain radiocarbon dates  
from the site.

"But these fluted points are very early, around the 11,000-year  
range," said Patrick O'Grady, an archaeologist with the UO Museum of  
Natural and Cultural History. "This is only the second site in Oregon  
where more than one of these kinds of points have been found, so it's  
special."

Fluted points have a long flake removed from the stone's base toward  
the tip, which made it easier to attach points to the shaft of a  
spear or other tool. Fluting was the first technological and cultural  
innovation developed in the Americas.

O'Grady led a research team that examined an area called the Sagehen  
Gap site during a three-week UO archaeological field school in July  
and August. The researchers, who included students from the Burns  
Paiute Tribe and volunteers from the Oregon Archaeological Society,  
found about 150 stone tool fragments.

The artifacts may be Clovis, a name that refers to the prehistoric  
people and their distinctive fluted projectile points who flourished  
in North America at the end of the last ice age. Clovis points, which  
have been found with the remains of ancient mammoths and mastodons,  
were durable weapons.

"This site has strong Clovis connections, but we're being cautious  
about that until we do a complete analysis," O'Grady said. "These  
probably are Clovis, but without radiocarbon dates on the site  
placing these in the time period of Clovis, we have no way to say  
that they are without some small degree of doubt."

The points, all found on the surface, are about an inch wide at the  
base and up to 2 inches long.

The technique of making the points is "very sophisticated," O'Grady  
said. "Driving off these central fluting points is a hard thing to  
do. When you see these kinds of points, it reflects not just on the  
age of the site, but on the toolmakers' skills. They're doing pretty  
remarkable work."

The only other Oregon site where similar fluted points have been  
found is the Dietz archaeological site near Wagontire, about 50 miles  
southwest of the Riley site. A few dozen fluted points considered to  
be from the Clovis period have been found at the Dietz site in recent  
decades.

Both sites have obsidian, the volcanic glass that the early foragers  
used to make the points.

O'Grady said the site near Riley would have been an excellent place  
for early travelers to make and refit broken tools. The location also  
has a commanding view of the surrounding area, making it ideal to  
watch for game.

The site had edible plants and a dry streambed next to the site that  
would have been a natural travel route, O'Grady said.

Evidence indicates that it wasn't used very long, he said. "It's  
curious to me that a place that has obsidian and has such a  
commanding view of the area didn't get used again and again by other  
people."

The site was identified about 20 years ago when a fluted point was  
discovered. A BLM archaeologist wrote a description of the site and  
filed it away.

Scott Thomas, an archaeologist with BLM's Burns District, spotted the  
document in agency files and decided to investigate. A BLM crew found  
two fluted points in February, and the other two points were found  
this summer.

Tiny samples of the points were removed to determine the source of  
the obsidian and for use in a dating method called obsidian  
hydration. The technique measures moisture absorption rates to help  
determine whether one artifact is older or younger than another. The  
measurements support the ancient age of the points, O'Grady said.

The four points have been sent to a lab at California State  
University, Bakersfield, to analyze any blood residue. They then will  
be examined by Mike Rondeau, an archaeologist in Sacramento who is a  
specialist in fluted points.

"This is a significant discovery," said Rondeau, who found one of the  
points during a brief visit to the site. "Sites that show fluted  
points and other stone tools that old are quite rare in the far  
western United States. And Oregon is blessed with two of these  
important sites."

O'Grady said this year's initial findings have made him eager to take  
another look at the site. "We definitely will be going back there for  
additional work."

Richard L. Hill: 503-221-8238; richardhill at news.oregonian.com






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