The Standley Site
Connolly, Thomas J., with contributions by Joanne M. Mack, Richard E. Hughes, Thomas M. Origer, and Guy L. Prouty. The Standley Site (35D0182): Investigations into the Prehistory of Camas Valley, Southwest Oregon. University of Oregon Anthropological Papers No. 43. Published by the Department of Anthropology and Oregon State Museum of Anthropology University of Oregon, Eugene, October 1991.
Abstract:
The Standley site (35D0182) is located at the southern edge of Camas Valley, a small basin on the upper Coquille River of southwestern Oregon. The earliest radiocarbon date from the site is 2350 ± 80 years ago, but obsidian hydration analysis suggests that initial occupation may have begun between 4500 and 5000 years ago. Both obsidian hydration and radiocarbon evidence suggest that occupation was most intense and continuous between 3000 and 300 years ago.
Cultural patterns at the Standley site are unclear at both ends of this occupation span; the remains of the earliest use episodes were disturbed by later prehistoric occupations, and the upper levels of the site were severely disturbed by historic activity. Radiocarbon evidence for the latest occupation period (within the last 500 years) includes dates from the basal portions of posts preserved in the lower levels of the site. The best preserved cultural patterns at the site, presumed to be associated with a set of radiocarbon dates ranging from 1180 to 980 years ago, are within a relatively rock-free area in the north-central portion of the main excavation block. Distinct artifact clusters, and possible structural remains, are present within this area.
The large size of the Standley site, the possible presence of structures, and the variety and density of artifact types present-including an enormous array of chipped stone tools, hammers and anvils, edge-ground cobbles, abrading stones, pestles, stone bowls, clay figurines, painted tablets, and exotic material such as schist, pumice, and steatite-indicate that the site served as a substantial encampment of some duration. There was some evidence for structural remains (posts and bark), but no clear evidence for semisubterranean housepits such as those reported elsewhere in southwest Oregon. The presence of charred hazelnuts and camas bulbs suggest a probable summer-to-fall occupation.
There are indications that the area of the site on which the present excavations focused served, at some time, as a specialized woodworking area. Severely worn steep-bit endscrapers exhibit use-wear compatible with woodworking. The distribution of tabular abrading stones, possibly used as sanding blocks, matched closely the distribution of these probable wood- working tools.
Other tasks are represented as well. The cobble tool complex, which incorporates hammer, anvil, and edge-ground elements, may relate to a specific task or set of tasks. Cobble tools tend to cluster together at the site, outside of the woodworking tool clusters. Used in conjunction with hammerstones, anvils may have facilitated bipolar reduction of small pebble cores. Edge-ground cobbles have been characterized as hide-processing tools.
While the time of occupation at the Standley site is reasonably well established, the cultural assemblage is not what we have come to expect from sites of Late Prehistoric age. For example, clay figurine fragments, known to date between 1100 and 400 years ago, are present at the site. While their presence is compatible with the other chronological evidence, they are almost always associated elsewhere with Gunther Series projectile points, which do not occur at the Standley site. The Standley site projectile point assemblage is dominated by specimens assigned to the Coquille Series (53 %), which are characterized by contracting, V-shaped stems and shoulders. Most retain, at the proximal end, a remnant of a striking platform of the original flake from which the point was made. This series appears to be a variant of a presumably earlier foliate or willow- leaf shaped point.
Other point types present in the assemblage are stemmed (24 %), foliate (14 %), and side-notched (9%) varieties. Neck width is considered to be one of the most chronologically sensitive attributes of projectile points. Narrow-necked points, believed to be indicative of bow-and-arrow technology, generally post-date broad-necked points. Considering all projectile points with measurable necks, 93% of the Standley site points have broad-necks. This fact, and the presence of edge-ground cobbles which are strongly linked with Early Prehistoric assemblages on the Columbia Plateau, made the assemblage initially appear incongruent with the demonstrated age of the site.
Narrow-necked (arrow) points make their first appearance throughout most of southwest Oregon before 2000 years ago, and are predominant throughout much of the region during the last 1600 years. Present evidence suggests that while Gunther Series points predominated in some portions of southwest Oregon at this time, broad-necked and Coquille Series points may have persisted until late prehistoric or protohistoric times in other areas, particularly within the Umpqua/Coquille river basins.
The reported presence of microblade technology in the upper Coquille River basin (Pettigrew 1978; Pettigrew et at. 1980) was of particular interest in the present analysis. Endscraper-like artifacts with fluted bits (characterized by a series of long, parallel-sided flake scars) were recovered from the site. Analysis of the artifacts in question made it clear that they were intended and used as scraping or adzing tools, not as microcores.
Many linear, parallel-sided flakes were also recovered, which undoubtedly represent debris from the manufacture of thick-bit endscrapers and other tools. Following Sanger (1970:106), these artifacts are more appropriately termed “linear flakes” than microblades, as evidence of regular core preparation techniques is absent. The distinction made by Sanger, and followed here, is to differentiate between a blade industry, where blades are the desired product, and a technology that results in the fortuitous production of linear flakes.
Blade-like “linear” flakes have long been recognized in early assemblages in the Pacific Northwest, as have edge-ground cobbles. Foliate projectile points are yet another attribute of early Pacific Northwest assemblages present at the Standley site. While the Standley site assemblage is clearly not contemporaneous with early foliate point/edge- ground cobble/linear flake assemblages from the Columbia Plateau, there is an overall similarity of technologies. Based on a review of cultural assemblages from throughout the Pacific Northwest which appeared to share this complex of traits, Connolly (1986:124-143) proposed to identify these attributes as the “Cascade Pattern.” This term was offered to draw attention to the technological unity, and presumed common ancestry, underlying many locally distinct cultural expressions in the region.
Most expressions of the Cascade Pattern in the Pacific Northwest are associated with Early Prehistoric phases on the Columbia Plateau, but in southwest Oregon this technological tradition appears to persist beyond Early- to Mid-Prehistoric times (cf. Schreindorfer 1985; Connolly 1986; Connolly and Baxter 1984). Noting the unexpected persistence of this technological tradition in portions of southwest Oregon, Connolly (1986) has proposed identifying the local manifestation of the region-wide Cascade Pattern as the Glade Tradition.
Technological conservatism does not necessarily imply cultural isolation. The best evidence for long distance cultural contacts from the Standley site comes from the presence of obsidian, an exotic stone that represents over 25 9b of the flake waste recovered from the site. Most of the analyzed obsidian (70 40) is chemically similar to northern Klamath basin sources (Spodue Mountain and Silver Lake/Sycan Marsh). Obsidian from northeast California sources (the Medicine Lake highlands region) accounts for 23% of the sample, and obsidian from the upper Willamette Valley (Inman Creek source) and Central Cascades/Willamette Vailey regions (Obsidian Cliffs source) comprise minor percentages of the assemblage.
The presence of a molded clay artifact and two clay figurine fragments also presents implications for broader contacts. Mack (1990) suggests that the ceramic figurine complex implies a high degree of cultural interaction in southwest Oregon and northern California in late prehistoric times, interaction that cut across significant tribal and linguistic boundaries.
