CALIFORNIA PROJECTS
Client: North State Resources, Western Area Power Administration
NORTH AREA AND CA-OREGON TRANSMISSION SITE EVALUATION
Pacific Legacy was retained in 2010 to develop Historic Contexts and a Work Plan (Plan) for the evaluation of 317 archaeological sites within 700 miles of transmission line beginning near Tracy, California and extending to the Oregon border. The Plan involved extensive review of existing cultural resource documents and site records to develop a tiered strategy to the evaluation of archaeological sites. Multi-year evaluations of the 317 sites began in 2011. To date all historic period sites have been evaluated.
Client: Bureau of Reclamation
CARSON LAKE AND PASTURE TITLE TRANSFER
In 2010-2011, Pacific Legacy conducted a Class III archaeological survey and ethnographic study of approximately 29,629 acres in western Nevada that comprise the lands proposed for the Carson Lake and Pasture Title Transfer (Carson Lake Project). In compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the Bureau of Reclamation retained Pacific Legacy, Inc. to assist in the identification and evaluation of cultural resources within the title transfer area. The final results demarcated and recorded 239 archaeological sites and 2,135 isolated finds in the Project Area.
Most of the sites (n=232, 97%) are newly identified, and seven others (3%) are previously recorded sites that were relocated in the Project Area. The majority of sites in the Project Area are Native American (n=198, 82.9%), with fewer historic sites (n=35, 14.6%), and six sites (2.5%) are multi-component with both Native American and historic elements; this produces a total of 204 Native American components and 41 historic components in the Project Area. The evaluation process identified 29 sites (26 Native American, 3 historic) in the Project Area that appear to meet the NRHP criteria found at 36 CFR 60.4(a-d). This frequency of recommended eligible sites represents 12 percent of the total site inventory. Several of the sites occur in close geographic proximity to each other in the southern Project Area within the northern White Throne Mountains and comprise a proposed NRHP archaeological district (the Northern White Throne Mountains Archaeological District; n=26 sites).
Client: Army Corps of Engineers, City of St. Helena
ST. HELENA FLOOD CONTROL PROJECT
The project site is on the west bank of the Napa River and adjacent floodplain in the City of St. Helena. The City constructed various flood control components, ranging from widening the floodplain and constructing new floodwalls and levees to relocating homes.
In 2005, Pacific Legacy surveyed the APE for project which resulted in eight prehistoric resources and one historic resource evaluated for National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility. Three resources were determined eligible for listing NRHP. These resources are: CA-NAP-399, CA-NAP-406, and CA-NAP-863. The eligibility of CA-NAP-413 was deferred until data recovery excavation. In addition to the survey and evaluations of the four resources, Pacific Legacy prepared a Historic Properties Treatment Plan (HPTP) and Programmatic Agreement (PA) for the project. Pacific Legacy also consulted on behalf of the City with the Mishewal-Wappo Tribe of Alexander Valley who were concurring parties to the PA.
Phase III Data Recovery was undertaken in 2007, 2008, and 2009. The monitoring effort was undertaken in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Materials collected from CA-NAP-406 and CA-NAP-413 were primarily obsidian flakes not dissimilar from the Phase II excavations. CA-NAP-406, based on obsidian hydration rim readings dates to the Early Period circa 5,000 BP to 2,500 BP, while CA-NAP-413 dates to the Late Period (AD 400 BP to 200 BP). Materials collected did not differ in quality and quantity from the Phase II excavations, so emphasis was placed on CA-NAP-399 and CA-NAP-863.
The picture that emerged from the investigations at CA-NAP-399 and CA-NAP-863 suggests that sites were most likely one site in prehistory. Both sites were utilized primarily during the Middle Period and there does not appear to be a residential component, based on the absence of distinct architectural features (e.g., postholes, house floors, etc.) and the sheer amount of lithic debris, tools, a cache of 41 bifaces, and numerous lithic features. During a single 500 year window of the Middle Period (2,450-1,950 BP), CA-NAP-399 in particular was utilized as a cemetery as evidenced by the 163 burials encountered during Phase III data recovery excavations and archaeological monitoring. Obsidian bifaces, groundstone tools, bone tools, bird bone whistles, steatite beads and ornaments, Olivella shell beads, abalone ornaments, and quartz crystals were found in burial contexts. Biface production declined at approximately 1,750 BP (3.6 microns) and—presumably at around 1,950 BP based on an assay of 22 AMS radiocarbon dates—the site ceased to be used as a burial ground.