Oregon Archaeology

Preface and Acknowledgments

9 Preface and Acknowledgments Oregon has a deep and varied history, and archaeological research has revealed a great deal more about it since the last general survey, Archaeology of Oregon, (first published in 1984) was revised in 1993. The book originated as a public outreach project of the Oregon State Office, USDA Bureau of Land Management, fostered by Dr. Y.T. (Jack) Witherspoon. We thank Dr. Witherspoon for his crucial impetus, and also Dr. Richard C. Hanes, who supported the 1993 book’s publication and sustained distribution over many years and has facilitated generous BLM financial support for the production of important new illustrations in the present volume. That earlier volume took an essentially encyclopedic approach, providing descriptions of the most important sites that were then known and studied. This volume presents more of a historical narrative as revealed by evidence from critical sites. Our objective is to offer an updated review that systematically attends to the major cultural patterns and historical trends so far discerned in the human story of Old Oregon and provides substantial evidence in support of the narrative. As a practical matter, though, it is not possible to give equal attention to all the available research contributions in a book of reasonable size, or to discuss particular issues or areas of research as fully as can be done in more narrowly focused scholarly offerings. To help alleviate this problem, we have supplied citations throughout the text to many studies that will provide the inquiring reader with data and interpretation beyond what we are able to present here. Another divergence from the 1993 volume, which focused entirely on Native American culture history, is the inclusion here of selected studies in contact-historic period archaeology to illustrate some aspects of the first encounters between Native Americans and newcomers of European and Asian heritage. It will be seen from the bibliography that the number of contributors to this synthesis is large indeed, and we thank our many colleagues represented there, whose research and ideas make up the substance of this book. We are 10 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS particularly pleased to thank five initially anonymous OSU Press reviewers of the working manuscript, who—at our request—were ultimately willing to reveal their names (Brian O’Neill, Dennis Griffin, Mark Tveskov, Loren Davis, and Guy Tasa) so that we could acknowledge them for their insightful, valuable , and sometimes stern counsel. Their comments influenced the ultimate framing of this presentation and challenged us explicitly with the problems inherent in trying to compose a unified book about an area (Oregon) that is highly differentiated geographically and culturally, and poses quite different research issues in different regions. As will be seen, because of these factors we could not apply a uniform set of organizational conventions to all the regional chapters, though we have sought to keep the individual narratives on generally parallel tracks and to cover the key issues for each region. The fact that the book’s chapters were composed by three different authors further limited stylistic uniformity, although we all read, critiqued, and contributed to one another’s texts, and we collectively take responsibility for the book’s overall coverage. The reviewers also directed our attention to the matter of how to properly compose a book suitable for a broad and diverse readership. Museum professionals speak of “streakers,” “strollers,” and “studiers” among the people who pass through their institutions, and are at pains to accommodate the interest level of all three kinds of visitors. We have written this book with general readers, college students, and our professional colleagues all in mind, and hope we have achieved a reasonable balance. We are of course responsible for the interpretations we have adopted, though we think they are generally congruent with prevailing opinion among our colleagues. Special appreciation for photographs and other images used in this volume is extended to Kenneth M. Ames (Portland State University); R. Lee Lyman (University of Missouri); Rick Minor, Bob Musil, Allen B. Cox, and Kevin C. McCornack (Heritage Research Associates, Eugene); R. Scott Byram (Byram Archaeological Consulting and University of California Archaeological Research Facility); Dennis Gray (Cascade Research); Jeff LaLande (LaLande Archaeology & History Services); Mark Tveskov (Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology); William Andrefsky (Washington State University ); Brian O’Neill, Patrick O’Grady, Pamela Endzweig, and Chris White (University of Oregon Museum of Natural & Cultural History); illustrators Eric Carlson and Lance Peterson; photographers Brian Lanker and Jack Liu; and mapmaker Lawrence Andreas (Allen Cartographic). Co-author Thomas Connolly crafted...