Significant changes are occurring in our perceptions of how humans initially arrived in North and South America. These changes have implications for how we understand the prehistory of the Pacific Coast. Specialists who seek to understand the peopling of the Americas have attempted to answer five related questions: Who? When? Where? How? Why? The way in which these questions are being addressed is changing because old interpretations have proved inadequate. There have been new discoveries, new lines of evidence, and advances in technology that facilitate new analyses.

     The Coastal Entry model or Pacific Rim Hypothesis is an important component of the new understandings, and it is this model that our research project is investigating. Our hypothesis is that during late Pleistocene or early Holocene time, people possessing small watercraft dispersed along the ecologically rich Pacific Rim from Asia into North and South America. While logically attractive, this hypothesis is difficult to test and has received little attention until recently. Regional geoarchaeological research projects such as ours are crucial if the Coastal Entry model is to be tested. In most of North America's Pacific Rim, rising sea level since the last glacial maximum has drowned the coastal landscapes that may have been utilized by early peoples. Although underwater archaeology could provide one source of evidence for such migrations, expense and logistical factors limit its widespread use. Additionally, it is not clear that underwater features have been preserved, but this is one topic we are currently investigating by examining bathymetric data.

 
Geology of the southern Oregon coast, near Cape Blanco
   The southern Oregon coast from Whisky Run Creek south to Port Orford is characterized by preserved marine terraces, dune deposits, estuaries, and riverine landforms, some of which probably are of late Pleistocene and early Holocene age. These ancient landforms provide an ideal context in which to seek evidence of occupation by early human migrants. In addition, the principal investigator's long-term work and familiarity with this area, collaborative work on southern Oregon prehistory with the Coquille Indian Tribe, and the tribe's participation in research, make this an ideal region on which to focus.

 

 This multidisciplinary project used traditional methodologies from archaeology and the earth sciences, together with new laboratory-based and computer-based technologies. Key components were geoarcheological surveys and analyses, predictive modeling, and paleoecological investigations.

     Rather than waiting for sites to be discovered, our project sought soils and sediments of the appropriate age, in environments that likely would have appealed to coastal migrants or residents. Secondarily we searched within those areas for evidence of human occupation. Because of the dynamism of the coast and factors that have shaped it over the past 18,000 years, we were interested in reconstructing late Pleistocene environmental conditions. Computer modeling and field investigation both had roles in this project in feed-back loops, allowing findings and expectations of each to be tested.

 

 

An abbreviated version of the original proposal is available for viewing and provides a more detailed explanation of this project's objectives and methodologies.

 

 

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