Parkwide
Inventory YEAR 2
Field Photos Year
2
Sitka National Historical Park, Year 2 of 4 Parkwide
Inventory
The second year of parkwide site survey was undertaken
between April 9 and May 13, 2006, building on the previous
year's work. Overall project goals continue to be to
conduct systematic, scientific research to locate, evaluate,
and document archeological resources on National Park
system lands.
In 2005, geophysical and metal detection teams completed
their inventories. In 2006, fieldwork focused on the
goal of completing to the extent possible, the shovel
test inventory started the previous year. Shovel testing
is a relatively quick method of assessing the subsurface
archeological components of an area. Shovel tests are
small hand-excavated holes which allow the investigator
to quickly examine subsoils for cultural deposits. Due
to the dense vegetation at Sitka National Historical
Park, shovel testing is the main way of locating archeological
sites throughout the park. Working during the early
spring allowed the shovel test team to work before the
park's vegetation leafed out and expanded.
In order to complete as much of the park as possible,
the shovel test team was expanded in size from four
people in 2005 to 10-11 people in 2006. The project
director, MWAC Archeologist William Hunt, led the team
again this year with the assistance of MWAC Archeologist
Anne Vawser. Vawser's primary duties was to use a handheld
GPS unit to record the locations of shovel tests, cultural
features, survey data, and other landmarks in anticipation
of creating archeological maps of the park.
A total of 787 shovel tests were excavated completing
inventory of park lands on the west side of the Indian
River and finishing about 60% of the Fort Unit on the
east side of the river. Altogether, approximately 10,061
m² (25 acres) of the park were inventoried. During
this process, 482 historic and prehistoric artifacts
were collected and cataloged. Newly identified prehistoric
features include several charcoal and cobble-filled
pits, single and multiple stratified charcoal deposits
on low terraces on both sides of the Indian River, and
a charcoal-filled pit tentatively identified as a roasting
oven or long-term hearth. One charcoal and cobble-filled
pit located at shovel test B100 produced the oldest
radiocarbon date seen in the park yet; e.g., 2590 +
50 years BP (before physics - usually taken to mean
the number of years before 1950). This calibrates to
BC 820-760 and BC 680-550. Another dated sample from
a stratified deposit dated to 1310 + 40 BP which calibrates
to AD 660-790. Four other charcoal samples date to the
late prehistoric to early historic eras ranging from
dates of AD 1430-1670 (calibrated) to AD 1640-1950 (calibrated).
The larger number of later dates suggest intensification
of usage of natural food resources in the park from
the 1400s to the early 19th century.
Historic features were more numerous than prehistoric
and include two rectangular 1940 NPS outhouse pits,
a wooden platform, eight earthen World War II gun emplacements,
two concentrations of late 19th century historic artifacts,
several clusters of cable-girded trees and abandoned
two-track roads, a hunter's tree stand, a 1930s era
dump, and an element of a corduroy road built by the
U.S. Army prior to 1870. Two rectangular depressions
near the Tlingit Fort were also recorded but their temporal
associations are not known. Public outreach was accomplished
through hiring local workers, involving Tlingit in the
fieldwork, radio and newspaper interviews, and participation
in the park's education program involving close to 100
students from at least seven grade school and high school
classes.
An Associated Press article on the project, "Dig
unearths shot, cannonballs at Sitka glade," was
published by The Seattle Times on May 22. The story
may be accessed here.
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