Those who are involved with the study of the peopling of the Americas have long noted that many of the oldest sites in the Americas are found "by accident" either during construction, or by some natural exposure. To get a more descriptive picture of this process, Roberta Hall and graduate student Donna McCarthy reviewed and assembled relevant literature pertaining to late Pleistocene and early Holocene archaeological site discoveries. McCarthy made a thumb-nail sketch of the discovery process. The database below, which examines the landform type, materials recovered, age, and discovery process of each site, provides a context for the coastal project's approach and findings.

     Data pertaining to early archaeological sites or artifacts from Oregon also provide important comparative and contextual information to the project's researchers. Dr. Roberta Hall compiled descriptive and locational information on projectile points that were found in Oregon and are representative of early typologies. A table containing Oregon fluted point information can be accessed. Additionally, graduate student Michele Punke compiled detailed descriptions of early archaeological sites located on the Oregon coast as part of her master's thesis. These Oregon site descriptions are also available for perusal.

Database: Discovery Process, North American Sites of the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition

This data base reports on 323 North American archaeological sites of more than 7,500 years antiquity. Fields in the data base are as follows:

1. CASE NUMBER (our reference set);
2. PLACE is the Canadian Province, American State, or Mexico;
3. SITE is the site's common name, usually place-related----but some sites have several names, so beware!
4. LANDFORM has eight possible categories: ground (sub-surface), surface, quarry, beach, river bank, rock shelter, underwater, and cave.
5. MATERIALS are provided using 17 categories: bison (Bison antiquus), bone (faunal remains), general and mixed (a number of types of cultural material), habitation (a living site or partial structure), human bones, lithics, charcoal, fire-cracked-rock, shell, tools, mammoth, mastodon, midden, sandal, sloth, water well, tooth. In many cases two or three are listed; but if there are more categories the material is coded general.
6. MATERIAL lumps the more specific data of the former field into: habitation, human bones, lithics, extinct fauna (ExFn, subsuming all extinct fauna), and mix (more than one material type).
7. CULTURAL indicates whether the site definitely holds cultural material (Y for yes) or possibly includes cultural material (M for maybe). This latter refers to material such as a bone of an extinct mammal in which cut marks are in dispute, whereas "No" means that there are extinct fauna but the literature provides no evidence of human presence.
8. AGE lists earliest published dates we saw, and they are given without judgement. Our preference was for specific dates, but not all researchers provided them; in these cases the researchers have categorized sites of Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene age because of artifact typology, animal species, or geological or other features of the site, and we did not list a specific date. Radiocarbon dates are uncalibrated.
9. DATING lists methods, abbreviated as follows:
AA----Amino Acid racemization, applied to bone. Once thought to hold potential for dating it now is used to indicate preservation of organic material.
Comparison----strata, or more likely artifacts, have been dated by comparison with nearby sites where absolute dating has taken place.
Geology----geological processes such as layers of volcanic ash or other defined stratigraphic markers of known antiquity.
Mineralization----estimates of relatively great age made due to mineralization of bone, which may not be valid since mineralization rates vary.
OH-----Obsidian Hydration.
OSL----Optical Scanning Luminescence.
Paleontology----deriving minimum estimates of age from fauna associated with extinction dates before 7500 years ago.
RC----radiocarbon or C-14 dating.
RC on bone-----dates were assayed from bone, which may or may not be cultural.
TBA----researchers reported their intention to formally date the site.
TL----Thermoluminescence.
Typology----tool tradition indicates antiquity over 7500 years (e.g., Clovis, fluted, or Folsom).
US----Uranium series dating.
10. DISCOVERY categorizes the process of finding early sites as follows:
Avocational Archaeologist----- an interested amateur who may look for sites, help archaeologists work at sites, and often has a fascination with stone tools. In some cases this is a person such as a geologist whose work has led to familiarity with archaeology and sites. This category includes people known as collectors in the older literature. (Abbreviated, AvAr).
Local----a local resident, not identified as an avocational archaeologist; in one case, for example, a diver found an underwater site.
Exposure----erosion, lowered lake levels, or other natural phenomenon revealed a site.
Survey----discovery resulting from a deliberate search for sites. Cultural Resource Management (CRM) is listed as a separate type and refers to a survey mandated because of development or some other process; Geological Survey also is designated as a separate type.
Construction-----any process that unearths a site, usually one that is buried; this includes activities such as plowing on farmland, excavating through a bluff to make a road, and quarrying for road gravel.
Probe site-----finding of a paleo site below a more recent site that was the reason for the excavation. In many cases the recent sites was evident on the surface.
Test techniques-----a single case where an archaeologist who chose a location to teach students archaeological techniques found a site that proved to be quite old.
Unknown----sites for which we did not identify the discovery process.

In many instances a combination of processes resulted in discovery of a site, while in others there was one clear event, and we are aware that in some cases a report of the discovery omits some features.

We'd appreciate hearing from web-site readers concerning additions to this data base----either new information concerning some listed sites, or additional sites. Send the information to Roberta Hall and include the 10 items just listed beginning with the location (as specific as possible) down through the discovery process. A published reference would also be helpful for our records.

DOWNLOAD THE DISCOVERY DATABASE (42kb)