Spllyay Tytnoo
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Part <
22. 1983 PAGE 3
vation
The site during the dig in 1981
by Donna Behrend
In April 1981, the remains of
at least 12 people were
discovered in Prineville-area
by farmer Norm Forgey 7 miles
north of the Central Oregon
town. Those remains were re
buried in a special vault at the
Agency Cemetery foilowine'
tribal ceremonies at the
Agency Longhouse earlier this
month.
The story, from the initial
discovery to the final burial,
unfolds like this. Forgery was
leveling a field, preparing it for
planting, when he realized he
had uncovered human remains.
His first thought was to merely
pull his find out of the way and
continue to work.
But when he saw there were
too many, including skulls, he
decided to stop and contact a
friend who was familiar with
such things. This friend, in
turn, happened to mention the
discovery to Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) archaeo
logist Susan Crowley Thomas.
She immediately contacted
Forgey and cordoned off the
area so that excavation could
begin. She also contacted the
Confederated Tribes of Warm
S prings because of the
proximity of the site and
because of the Oregon State
Law which says that all Indian
burial sites found within the
state must be reported so they
can be protected. Forgey
continued his farming and
worked around the 4 yard by 5
yard area.
Thomas and her husband
S c o tt, who is also an
archaeologist, were the two
people responsible for the
excavation. Working every
weekend for about 6 months,
the Thomases painstakingly
dug the area where they found,
not only the human remains,
but over 500 hundred artifacts
as well.
Thomas said the remains
were in excellent condition and
much older than they had first
thought. Radio earbon-daiing,
done in Florida, shows that the
remains are 600 to 700 years
old. The artifacts found at the
site indicate that the people
were from the Columbia River
Basin area.
At first it was thought the site
was a burial site. But because of
the haphazard way the bodies
were situated and the discovery
of evidence of warfare, the
Thomases feel the group was
attacked and died where they
fell. There was also evidence
that the group had a permanent
shelter of some kind and that it
was burned down on top of
them.
Study of the remains showed
that two males and two females
of the group were in their mid
twenties. Three other males
were children under 10 years of
age and one other child who
was buried near one of the
women was under five years of
age. There was also one other
thirteen to eighteen year-old
whose sex was undeterminable.
One of the adult men had a
bone disease and cavities,
which was very uncommon at
the date in time, said Thomas. Just a few o f the artifacts found
One female was found to have
an arrowhead in her spine and
the youngest child had a
spearpoint in the pelvic area.
The artifacts were, to say the
least, amazing. Tiny arrow
heads were perfectly sculptured
with the points as sharp now as
they were then. Some are made
of obsidian while others are
made of other native stones.
They also found antler splitting
wedges, bone tools that could
have been used for making
arrowheads or basketmaking, a
bone hairpin, a piece of native
lead metal which has a hole
drilled through it and many
other items.
All are very well preserved
for their age. There is even a
club head that was used at a
much earlier time that the
archaeologists think is a family
h e irlo o m . A r tif a c t are
currently at the Thomas’ home
in P rin e v ille a w a itin g
catlaoging. They will be
available for further study and
eventually they will be in the
Warm Spirngs museum.
It is difficult to imagine the
type of life these people led,
what the terrain was like,
animal habitat—the list goes
and on. But this type of A sketch o f the site and the way the remains and artifacts were found.
discovery definitely links the
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known by few' cultures today.