Lassen Volcanic Area Subject of Multiyear Archaeological Study
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2000
Kathleen McPartland
530-898-4260
Greg White, Archaeological Research Program
530-898-4360
Lassen Volcanic Area Subject of Multiyear Archaeological Study
The first phase of a comprehensive inventory of Lassen Volcanic National Park archaeological resources has just been completed. The study was conducted between July 26 and August 16 as part of the California State University, Chico anthropology department’s Archaeological Field School.
The multiyear study is supported by a $150, 000 grant from the National Park Service. It involves the discovery and documentation of prehistoric and historic archaeological sites. It will feature an intensive study of the relationship between climate, volcanism and landscape change in the park through the last 12,000 years.
Gregory White, director of the Archaeological Research Program at CSU, Chico, led the multidisciplinary study with the help of visiting scholars from UC Davis, Sonoma State University and CSU, Sacramento. A number of new sites and new types of tools were found, indicating that there was more extensive use of vegetal foods in the prehistoric past than had been previously recognized.
Recently completed work included studying creek bank walls for evidence of ancient cultural sites buried beneath volcanic flows, under the direction of geoarchaeology specialist Jack Meyer of Sonoma State University. Meyer identified streamcut profiles that provided a window into landscape evolution and glacial and post-glacial times.
G. James West, a UC Davis research associate and state archaeologist for the Bureau of Reclamation, conducted coring studies of high-elevation lakes and meadows to compile a record of changes in sedimentation and pollen rain over the last 12 millennia.
West tested a small lake whose sediments produced a record around 20 feet deep. His preliminary evaluation indicates that the core sample included finely laminated sediments containing a record of ecological change in the park, including volcanic eruptions, spanning up to 12,000 years.
White described the mutual benefits of the partnership between CSU, Chico and the National Park Service: students get a rare training opportunity, and the Park Service gets substantial professional-level labor dedicated to the study of park resources.
Students came from all over the country to attend the field school. The grant funds included three scholarships for Native American students from the Costanoan tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, the Patwin tribe of the western Sacramento Valley and the Koi Pomo tribe of southeastern Clear Lake basin.
White, who has a master’s degree from UC Davis, has been director of the CSU, Chico Archaeology Lab since September 1996. His areas of expertise include archaeology, cultural resource management and the study of hunter-gatherers in the western U.S. and California.
The Archaeological Research Program has 14 projects underway. White and others recently completed a major dig in the Cache Creek area of Lake County. The dig uncovered evidence of human habitation that may be the oldest in California. For more information on the Archaeological Research Program, contact White at 530-898-4360.
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