Dig Afognak Archaeology in 2004

and the Question of Ocean Bay-Kachemak Succession

Donald W Clark

Prepared for the Native Village of Afognak
Kodiak, Alaska
August 2004

ABSTRACT

In 2004 the Native Village of Afognak made a small-scale archaeological investigation of a site located at the mouth of the Afognak River. The unnamed site, referred to by its code designation Afg-088, is one in a series very ancient encampments located on both sides of the river. After subsidence in 1964, the edges of the densely forested site were washed out and the shore became littered with stone artifacts. From several hundred items collected at various times it appeared that the site could shed light on the elusive period when technological ways on Kodiak changed from the late Ocean Bay tradition that emphasized use of slate lance blades to the Early Kachemak tradition that emphasized grooved cobble fishing weights and notched pebble net sinkers. This occurred about 1800 BC.

In 1994 and 1995, Clark returned to Afg-088 to obtain charcoal samples for radiocarbon dating. The dates indicated occupation of Afg-088 from about 1800 BC to 800 BC. It appeared that the site represented a transition occupation form late Ocean Bay to Early Kachemak. There remained, though, some uncertainty about the identity of the earliest culture found there.

Eight small test excavations made in 2004 show that the first occupation at the site apparently was by late Ocean Bay people. Charcoal from one of their fires has been dated to between 3020 BC and BC 3500. (Beta-195048, age before calibration is 4540+70 BP or 2590 BC). Then there was a zone of occupational deposit that yielded few definitive artifacts but which probably is from an Ocean Bay-Kachemak transition. This was followed in the upper layers of the site by an apparent Early Kachemak occupation that was characterized by the presence of numerous notched net sinkers made on beach shingles. This is largely the zone dated between 1800 BC and 800 BC.

DIG AFOGNAK ARCHAEOLOGY IN 2004 AND THE QUESTION OF OCEAN BAY-KACHEMAK TRADITION SUCCESSION

Introduction

In 2004 the Native Village of Afognak made a small-scale archaeological investigation of a site located at Litnik at the mouth of the Afognak River. The unnamed site, known by its code designation Afg-088, is situated on the southwest bank of the tidal estuary about 100 meters upriver from Winter Island.

Afg-088 is one in a series of old encampment sites located on both sides of the river. After the subsidence and tidal waves of 1964 the edges of the densly forested site were washed out and the shore became littered with stone artifacts. Site deposits are thin and today only slumped banks and angular cobbles and boulders are visible along the shore bank. Several hundred items strongly represented by notched stone sinkers were collected there in 1971 (Workman and Clark 1979). From that collection it appeared that the site could shed light on the enigmatic if not elusive period when technological ways on Kodiak changed from the late Ocean Bay tradition that emphasized use of slate lance blades to the Early Kachemak tradition that emphasized grooved cobble fishing weights and notched pebble net sinkers. This occurred about 1800 BC.

Later, in 1994 and 1995, Clark was at the Dig Afognak camp at Katanee and returned to Afg-088, the first year in a small Zodiac-type boat. Ha dug two small test bits and obtained charcoal samples for radiocarbon dating. The dates indicated occupation of Afg-088 was from about 1800 BC to 800 BC. An earlier date for an underlying occupation layer was obtained in 2004. These dates, coupled with consideration of the styles of artifacts collected from the shore reinforced interpretation of Afg-088 as both a very early Kachemak site (Kachemak was succeeded by Koniag about 1150 AD) and one technologically linked to the antecedent Ocean Bay technological tradition. In some respects it appears to document the development of the former out of Ocean Bay. It was necessary, though, to have better data than a handful of artifacts from two or three pits and a collection of undetermined age picked off the shore. The objective of work in 2004 was to obtain a controlled collection from a number of excavation plots illustrating especially the initial occupation of the site and any changes through time.

The Afognak Bay and Litnik area has been described in previous reports to the Afognak Native Corporation and Native Village of Afognak and this will not be repeated here.

Operations

Donald W. Clark was in charge of the excavation. He was assisted by Jimmy Charliaga and received comprehensive logistical support, including transportation to and from the site, through the Dig Afognak camp. Youth and adults participating in Dig Afognak sessions were given the opportunity to assist. Several young persons and adults joined half-day shifts of excavation. But most children found the work tedious, uninteresting, dirty, wet and tiring. We were taken to the site by Bob May in his charter boat, transferred the last two hundred yards by skiff. At noon the crew returned to camp for lunch and the guest excavators were retired, sometimes to be replaced by a different afternoon crew.

Excavation was by trowel after the thick “Katmai” ash top layer had been shoveled off. Water screening was not an option because of ecological reasons, and dry screening was not practical because of insufficient labor. The site has the unusual feature of two volcanic ash layers at the surface, one being the Katmai-Novarupta ash of 1912, above that mixed ash, silt and sand picked up from the head of the bay and deposited ty tidal waves in 1964. Depth of artifacts was recorded by 20 centimeter zones or according to position relative to key layers (for instance: “above red-brown soil” or “stony layer of basal tephra). Their depth below the Katmai ash was recorded in many instances (A tephra is a volcanic ash deposit, often an old buried ash layer)..

Eight units of differing size where placed at varying distances form the shore and situated at variable spacing along a 50 meter transect. Spacing of units was determined largely the necessity to avoid large spruce trees and their roots. There were four additional small test pits along the extension the transect farther up the river These pits encountered slight cultural deposits even thought the beach nearby had been littered with artifacts or were aborted because of unreasonable obstruction by roots. Information on the test pits is provided in Table 1.

TABLE 1. TEST PITS AT AFG-088
________________________________________________________________________

No. Size Depth below Katmai
In 2004
1 1 m square 87 cm (part is tephra substrate)
2 1 m square 86 cm
3 1 m square 82 cm
5 8 sq. m 85 cm to orange-brown with charcoal, 109 to brite orange
Dug in 3 sections, hence TP5, TP5 Shoreward and TP5 Upriver. Pit started in 2001.
6 1.25 m square
7 1 m square
8 1.25 m x 2.5 m
9 1.25 m square 103 cm
In 1995
Pit 2 1.25 m square 50 cm (evidently to red-brown tephra only)
Pit 3 75 x 95 cm 40 cm to glacial till hardpan (oldest deposits removed by
construction 2800 years ago).
In 1994
Pit 1 60 cm square 53 not excavated to sterile substrate

The first day of excavation was June 29, 2004, the last day was the morning of July 29 when the pits were backfilled. There were 14 days of excavation. Most weekends Clark stayed at the Katanee camp to wash and catalogue the artifacts.

Stratigraphy

The total layering of a site deposit is of interest not only for clues it provides to the history of occupation but for a view of the locality prior to human occupation and information on the era after the site had been abandoned. Layering of deposits at Afg-088 was reasonably clear for major features and was consistent from pit to pit.
Only a slight layer of dark soil—little more than 1 cm thick—lay under the moss of the forest.

Following it is sediment of light gray color consisting mainly of “Katmai” ash deposited in 1964 by tidal waves. It usually is between 9 and 16 cm thick. It appeared to be absent at the highest pit.

A thin dark band, again little more than 1 cm thick, comprised the soil that developed between 1912 and 1964 (a period of 52 years, the period from 1964 to the present is of comparable magnitude.

Three zoned shades of Katmai (Novarupta) ash are recognized. This is the usual case on northern Kodiak. They usually are 14 to 17 cm thick as a set.

Next, but not distinct in every section, is a layer of chocolate-brown soil. It was formed after the site was abandoned. It has not determined to what extent this soil formed after the appearance of the spruce forest no more than 700 years ago and during the interval when only other vegetation grew at the site, probably about 2600 to 700 years ago.

Below the chocolate-brown soil is an undisturbed layer of fine gray sand. It too is sterile. No grains of black sand, as make up local slate-greywacke beach deposits nor particles of shell were seen under the microscope. It appears that this layer is volcanic ash. Locally it is up to 11 cm thick but usually it is only half that. It appears to be missing from the soil sequence of some pits and possibly was formed while the site was still occupied. Disturbance from occupation would have made it unrecognizable in places.

The first layer definitely of cultural origin, or containing occupational refuse such as charcoal and burned rock, was a dark gray or very dark brown soily layer that in places is as much as 30 cm thick Charcoal from this layer is dated to between BC 3020 and BC 3500 calibrated or true age.

A red-brown soil that formed the next layer is sterile. It is persistent and was found in nearly every excavation though locally it is broken, patchy or missing and evidently was disturbed by the site occupation. It appears to be an old volcanic ash of relatively considerable thickness, though no analysis has been done. For most sections the 9-cm-thick (more or less) signaled the bottom of a numerous distribution of notched stones and the beginning of deposits that contained very few artifacts. This is the 6-cm-thick volcanic ash noted in the 1995 Test Pit 2 which lay under occupation dated at 3490 BP or somewhere between 1540 and 2025 BC in calibrated radiocarbon years (Clark 1996). In two places in TP5 short portions of a gray soil lay under this red-brown soil. Exami-nation under a microscope revealed a minor component of black platelets, probably sand derived from slate, in a very fine light gray matrix. This appears to be sediment from the bay, probably emplaced by a tidal wave.

There followed a dark gray to very dark brown soily gravel. Then there was a thick dark soil some places streaked various shades of brown. In 1995 these layers were thought to be sterile (predating occupation) but in 2004 they were found to contain the occasional
artifact.

There were two principal substrate tephra zones. The upper one contained large pieces of charcoal or charcoal streaks in a light brown soil matrix, or in other cases rocks of various sizes. Frequently this layer had the appearance of being secondary—redeposited from elsewhere. Occasionally artifacts are present.

Then the brown tephra soil became clear of stones, though it still contained the occasional artifact. Disturbed or secondary patches occasionally were encountered, as when redeposited glacial till and in two cases deposits of charcoal (hearths) were found. Where the tephra was thick and undisturbed color zonation had developed: bright orange or yellow brown. It was in the tephra soils, including the upper rocky or charcoal-flecked facies, that most of the scraped and sawn slate and slate lances were found as well as two maul heads and a probable ochre grinder. But there were no red ochre streaks or ochre-stained areas in any portion of the excavated deposits.

Some pits were forced down to large angular blocks of stone and patches of brown gravelly till or gray clayey till representing a time, probably 11000 years ago, when the area was being freed from Ice Age glaciers.

Collections

Catalogue numbers At the Alutiiq Museum for Afg-088 run to 928, but 497 of these had been used for earlier collections. Too, many are for chert flakes which are not for implements. The implements and other items from the latest excavation are classified and enumerated in Table 2.

TABLE 2. IMPLEMENTS AFG-088 FOR 2004

No. Description
136 Notched stone sinker (or fragment)
64 Chert flake, shatter or core chunk
9 Hone-whetstone (3 are pumice)
1 Chert biface knife
1 Chert biface point
16 other various worked chert, cores, implement fragments
1 Flake retouched at edge (knife)
20 Lances (most fragments, some not finished)
1 Small stemmed lance or spear head
1 Very small stemmed ground slate point
8 Cobble spalls (boulder flake) (poor, none shows use as saw or scraper)
19 Flaked slate perform, tool or blank
17 Ulu blade or knife not lance (small edged ground fragments not counted)
12 Slate (not implement) with sawing only
11 Slate (not implement) with scraping only
15 Slate (not implement) with scraping and sawing

Differential Provenience (depth)

One of the objectives of analysis is to determine if there had been changes through time, i.e., if upper levels artifacts are different from those from the lower levels.

Notched stones. A changed distribution is seen very strongly for notched shingle sinkers. They occurred primarily in the top 20 cm of deposits or above the red-brown layer noted earlier. Of 138 such items only 6 are from contexts below the red-brown layer.

Chert.. The distribution of chert was examined with some interest given the predominance of chert over slate in Ocean Bay I and the sometimes absence or near absence of chert from Ocean Bay II occupations (the latter is in fact characterized by ground slate). Otherwise, chert occurs in Early and later Kachemak but at a modest level. A sampling of the catalogue found 26 flakes and 10 core chunks, implements and fragments in the upper levels compared with15 and 6 (2 are just giant flakes) respectively for the lower levels. This excludes 7 intermediate items. One “slate mode” Ocean Bay II occupation occurs just across the river from Afog-088 and it appears that the same mode (in relation to chert) is present in the lower levels. If there was a vigorous flaked stone industry there one would expect to recover hundreds, if not thousands of flakes.

Few formalized implements are recognized among the chert pieces and flaked stone. There is one leafshaped spear head (tip missing) and an ovoid biface knife from the lower levels. Some thick objects (illustrated) definitely were shaped but do not fit into convenient descriptive categories. One large flake (not chert) is nicely sharpened (retouched) along the edge, probably to prepare it for use as a knife. Two very long blade-like flakes (not chert, illustrated) almost are unique but they have not been modified into implements.

Ulu blades. Blades for ulu-type knives are one of the most telling of artifacts. Through time they passed from an enigmatic absence during most of the Ocean Bay tradition, to a low frequency of occurrence in Early Kachemak times to great abundance during Koniag tradition times (after 1150 or 1200 AD).. Use of drilled holes and notches to assist in hafting the blade appeared in middle to late Kachemak time. In the Koniag tradition ulu blades sometimes were of enormous size, earlier ones tended not to be so large. The sample from Afg-088 has only a few ulu blades but there also are a number of edged ground slate fragments which bust the total probable ulu blades to near 20 examples. None have hafting attributes of Koniag blades (pecked, sawn, gouged holes). Moreover, none have drilled perforations or notches and thus it is unlikely that any are from a Late Kachemak occupation. (Drilled holes of Late Kachemak age also can occur in late Kachemak double-edged flensing blades, of which only a plain example was recovered). The ulus thus appear to date to middle to Early Kachemak times. Specific provenience records document their occurrence in Level 1 (7 examples), Level 1-2 combined (2 examples), Level 3 (1 example), Level 5-6 (flensing knife), Level 8 (unmodified slate sheet with naturally sharp edge), about the same-top of basal tephra (very well formed ulu, very small). The distribution of ulus overwhelmingly favors the top levels. This fits our previous understanding of their absence in Ocean Bay and rarity in Early Kachemak. One of the Level 1 ulus has a strongly concave cutting edge, which may have been an adaptation for cutting grass for thatching shelters.

Slate Sawing and Scraping Technology. Sawing of slate sheets, usually to make slate strip blanks for spear heads, is a prominent aspect of Ocean Bay II (Late Ocean Bay). The technique later was little used on slate but continued in use for the production of bone tools. There is some question regarding its persistence into Early Kachemak times. Many examples were found at Afg-088. These include sawn strip blanks, sometimes still joined, artifacts made on such blanks that retain traces of saw cuts along the edges, and cut-off scrap.

The next stage of preparing a slate artifact was to scrape it, especially to taper the cutting edges which were finished with whetstones and hones. In some cases squares of fine-grained stone to be used for hones also we cut out by sawing.

The records show the following distribution of unfinished artifacts
12 specimens -- slate with saw cuts but not scraped
5 specimens -- slate showing both saw cuts and scraping
11 specimens -- slate showing scraping only

In addition there are a large number of semi-finished implements, mostly lances, where finishing has not removed some of the traces of sawing.

Inasmuch as this technology occurs prominently in early times, in Ocean Bay II, it was expected mainly from the lower levels. That is exactly what we found, with the exception of a Level 3 hone. Further statistical details for acraped and sawn scraps (those enumerated above) will not be given here. Instead we shift consideration to lances which in form and workmanships find exact counterparts in Ocean Bay II.

Slate Lances. Elongate slate points or blades, often of considerable size and length, are a distinctive feature of Late Ocean Bay weaponry. Then they disappear, though it is not certain that they did not persist into earliest Kachemak times. When elongate blades occur in the Koniag tradition, they usually are heavy double-edged blades of a knife or dagger format or signed tips for whaling darts. Those of Ocean Bay II usually have straight nearly parallel sides indicating manufacture from sawn slate strips. Often traces of saw cuts remain along the edges. These lances, usually just fragments, are one of the more common implements at Afg-088.

There are two shallow examples from Level 2 and Level 1-4 combined, an intermediate example from Level 4, and 13 examples in various ways, usually an actual depth measurement or basal tephra context, identified as deep. The case for deep provenience is so strong that it appears to be exclusive and the three shallower specimens might have been brought up from disturbed context or might be cases of misidentification. Unlike the case at most investigated Ocean Bay sites, there is only one possible example of extra barbs along the edge and no decorative lines on the lances. This does not change when the sample is increased by 26 specimens reported previously (Clark 1996 Table 14).We do not know if that has any temporal significance though the one example is shallow.

Cobble Spalls. Cobble spalls (boulder flakes) usually are exceedingly common at Kachemak sites where they served the purposes of a variety of tools ranging from concave edge scrapers to adze bits. In late Ocean Bay times they were used to saw slate and to scrape slate. Cobble spalls showing wear from such use were common across the river at the “Slate Site.” Relatively few of these objects – 8 specimens – were found at Afg-088 in 2004 and one in the three earlier test pits, and only one of them has the ideal shape of a spall that would be selected for a tool. However, a number were found on the shore, especially during earlier years. For this we offer no interpretations.

Other implements. Adze bits figure prominently (11 specimens) in earlier collections from the shore at the upriver end of the site but none was found in the test pit collections. This distribution may indicate that there are (or were) areas of the site that differ notably from the area upon which excavation was focused. The bits are not in the bifacially prepared style of some Ocean Bay adzes but are more like Kachemak and especially Koniag adze bits which elsewhere also is the case for some Ocean Bay adze bits). Microblade core. During a geological examination in 1999 Gary Carver, in the presence of the author, found a microblade core in the shore bank immediately adjacent to the 1994 test pit and in the same general area as Test Pit 1 and 2 of 2004. The core appeared to come from lower soil layers or tephra not reached by the 1994 test pit and thus safely can be assumed to be from an older component. This type of artifact is associated with Ocean Bay I, but no other artifacts from the site appear to be that old stylistically. A slate lance blank suggestive of Ocean Bay II was found in the context of the microblade core.

Conclusions

Afg-088 was first occupied about 5400 years ago by Ocean Bay II (Late Ocean Bay) people. This estimate is confirmed by radiocarbon dating.. This was a time of intensive volcanic activity, not on Kodiak but on the adjacent Alaska Peninsula whence volcanic ash drifted to Kodiak. Later eruptions also are document4ed by volcanic ash layers sandwiched within the layers from human occupation. Most artifacts of the earliest occupation are imbedded in volcanic ash or tephra deposits. The attraction of the area undoubtedly was salmon from the Afognak River. At that time the site may have been near the high tide inland limit of Afognak Bay, instead of near the low tide limit as it is today.

The succeeding period of occupation is represented by a thick layer of black and brown gravelly soil which shows the effects of camping on the site, but the campers left very few artifacts. This intermediate zone is identified as below the red-brown tephra and above the basal tan and brown tephras. It is unfortunate that so few artifacts were recovered inasmuch as at this time the Ocean Bay technological tradition came to an end and the Kachemak tradition began. We would like to be able to demonstrate that the one developed out of the other but presently have little more than a few artifacts (below) and circumstantial reasoning to support this proposition.

There was a small ulu blade and some flaked slate blanks for spear heads.
One of the blanks has a naturally sharp edge imparted through cleavage of the slate. This is a feature of slate capitalized on elsewhere by Early Kachemak people.
There was a slate spear head and a fragment of a lance of the Ocean Bat style usually found near the base of the site.
There were 6 notched sinkers, a prelude to the abundant sinkers above the red-brown tephra layer.
A few fragments of scraped and sawn slate could be assigned to this intermediate zone though these might belong to a lower zone (in places the divider the red-brown was missing).
In 1964 Test pit 1 yielded a fragment of scraped slate and a fragment of sawn slate (Ocean Bay technology) associated with a calibrated radiocarbon date of between 2035 BC and 1660 BC. In 1995 Test Pit 2 yielded the stem of an Ocean Bay II style point, ulu blade fragments that appear to have been shaped by scraping associated with a radiocarbon date of 2025 to 1540 BC. This material was found above or at the top of the red-brown tephra. The Late Ocean Bay deposit uncovered in 2004 is radiocarbon-dated to between 3500 BC and 3020 BC – approximately 1500 years earlier.

Although the evidence documenting Ocean Bay-Kachemak transition is not rigorous and seems to exclude the earliest layer of Afg-088 which is pure Late Ocean Bay, support for this proposition is drawn from the Kachemak-Ocean Bay superposition of occupation layers found at many sites. Sometimes the Ocean Bay-Kachemak succession appears to have been rapid. These sites include the Afognak site under discussion, two sites on Uganik Island (one excavated by Nowak in the 1970s, the other the Horseshoe Lagoon site investigated by the Alutiiq Museum in 2004), the Bliskii site on Near Island at the City of Kodiak (Saltonstall et al 1996), the Zaimka Mound site at the entrance to Womens Bay where work by the Alutiiq Museum was concluded in 2004 (Saltonstall communications to Clark 2002, 2003 and 2004), the mouth of Buskin Lake, and probably also Crag Point at the entrance to Anton Larsen Bay (Jordan 1992). Another case of succession and possible transition for which there are few details is at Malina Creek on Afognak Island (collection at Alutiiq Museum). At some of these sites the lure of the salmon fishery would have resulted in successive possibly unrelated occupations; but elsewhere that explanation does not hold and a direct historical relationship seems likely.

Regardless of the strength of any interpretation placed on the presence of a few Ocean Bay attributes, the site evidently was being used intensively by sometime between 2000 BC and 1600 BC (the difference between these dates is a statistical function of the radiocarbon dating method). This dating corresponds to the very earliest dating of the Kachemak tradition found elsewhere, as at Old Kiavak and Crag Point (Clark 1996) and Zaimka mound, and Horseshoe Cove on Uganik Island (Saltonstall personal communications to Clark June 2004 and earlier). Large notched pebble net sinkers (averaging about 10 cm long but up to 15 cm) are found at only a few other sites where they are associated with the very earliest Kachemak occupations. The early Kachemak tool inventory at Afg-088 is limited, or even impoverished though notched weights are abundant as also are natural cobble mauls used for driving trap or weir piling, various but relatively uncommon slate points, uncommon chert points, handy tool cobble spalls, and a single stone lamp found on the beach. We expected to find clay-lined pits and aprons around hearths (usually in dwellings), a distinctive plummet-style grooved stone, other grooved cobbles, extensive cobble roasting stone or boiling stone clusters. And stemmed double-edged knives (see Clark 1996). There should have been numerous cobble spalls shaped into implements. None of these were found.

An additional radiocarbon date brings occupation of the site up to about 1000 BC. (Clark 1996:73). The area probably ceased to be used soon thereafter as no artifacts of Late Kachemak style were recovered, the relatively large size of the collection notwithstanding.

However, within the early centuries of the next millennium small Late Kachemak settlements had been established a few hundred yards farther up the river, on both sides, at the Tsunami and the Salmon bend sites which were excavated by Dig Afognak in 2001 and 2002. Reports on that work have been distributed to members of the Afognak Native Corporation..

Late Kachemak occupation was succeeded by prehistoric Alutiiq of the Koniag Tradition who lived around the lagoon in large multi-compartment houses. Koniag culture was an n expression of ongoing technological and social development. Fishing techniques probably changed too as the Koniag houses are located farther up the river than the Kachemak sites. It was there too just upstream from the reach of high tide that a weir and salmon trap were built during the 19th century during the Russian and early
American period. The Alutiit of Afognak village continued to spend their summers around the lagoon at the mouth of the river until the beginning of the 20th century.

REFERENCES

Clark, Donald W.
1979 Ocean Bay: An Early North Pacific Maritime Culture. National Museum of Man, Mercury Series, Archaeological Survey of Canada, Paper No. 86. Ottawa.

1996 The Early Kachemak Tradition on Kodiak Island at Old Kiavak. National Museum of Man, Mercury Series, Archaeological Survey of Canada, Paper 155.

2000 Afognak Before Russians (slightly revised from 1999 version). Document prepared for Afognak Native Corporation., Kodiak, Alaska 78+16 pp.

2001 Litnik Archaeology at the Tsunami Site—2001 Distributed by Afognak Native Corporation. 345 pp typescript and plates.

2002 Litnik Archaeology at the Salmon Bend Site -- 2002. Distributed by Afognak Native Corporation. 39 pp typescript and plates.

Jordan, Richard H.
1992 A Maritime Paleoarctic Assemblage from Crag Point, Kodiak Island, Alaska. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska 24(1-2);127-140.
Jordan, Richard H. and Richard A. Knecht

Nowak, Michael
1978 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Archaeological Reconnaissance of Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge: June-August 1977. Manuscript on file, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska.

Workman William B. and D. W. Clark
1979 The Remaining 3800 Years of Prehistory and Contact History at Afognak Bay in Clark 1979.

 

2004 Catalogue

AFG-088
No.*	Section	Level or Depth	Identity	Notes
*Preceded by the Archaeological Repository code AM150
497	TP1	2	NS	"
498	"	2	NS	"
499	"	2	Frag ground slate	Lhotka
500	"	3	NS	Small, P. Griffing
501	"	3	NS	Small, P. Griffing
502	"	3	NS	" " " "
503	"	3	Tool slate	P. Griffing
504	"	3	Pumice	Unmodified
505	"	3-4	Cobble	"
506	"	3-4	Cobble spall, large
507	"	3-4	Tool slate
508	"	3-4	Worked red chert. Incomplete piece
509abc	"	3-4	Red chert flakes
510	TP1	6?	Biface blade, incomplete	Ken
511	"	6 & below	Slate point blank, incomplete
512	"	"	Spear head, incomplete
513	"	Black gravelly just above butterclay, 70 cm below Katmai Sawn slate stem		DWC
514	"	Below #512	Chert
515	"	"	"	"
516	"	"	Thick biface, broken	DWC
517	"	"	Chert
518	"	"	Flaked slate blank	Incomplete
519	"	"	Tool slate
520	"	Bottom of black Kachemak, top of tan basal tephra 50-60 cm below Katmai. Small ulu blade		DWC
521ab	"	Gravelly above tan basal tephra	Egg-shaped pebbles	DWC
522	"	Same layer	Slate blank, Incomplete	DWC
523	"	"	Elongate	DWC
524	"	"	fragment	DWC
525	TP2	1	NS	38533
526	TP2	1	NS	38533
527	TP2	2 to red-brown	NS	small
528	TP2	5 Red brown & below	Red chert flake
529	TP2	"	Chert, utilized edges
530	TP2	6-7 below red-brown down to light-brown tephra	Tool frag.
531	TP2	"	Elongate slate blank
530 & 531 have naturally sharp edges due to fracture pattern of the tool slate.
532	TP3	1	NS, Half	Tunnahan
533	TP3	1	Point, blade notched, fragment
534	TP2	1	Chert bifface, elongate, thick
535	TP4	1	NS	2 notches at one end
536	TP4	1	NS	Thick
537	TP4	1	NS	Thick
538	TP4	1	NS
539	TP4	1	NS
540	TP4	1	NS	Frag.
541a-e	TP4	1	Red chert flakes
542a	TP4	1	Chert shatter
543	TP4	1	Red chert	Water smoothed
542b-c	TP3	Various	Chert flakes
543b	TP3	Various	Red Chert shatter
544	TP3	"	Cobble spall
545	TP3	"	Cobble spall
546	TP3	"	Cobble spall
547	TP3	"	Cobble spall
548a-c	TP4	1	Chert flakes
549	TP7	Basal brown/butter clay	Slate slab ground samooth on one side, incomplete	July 14
550	TP6	Down to 40 cm	NS
551	TP6	Down to 40 cm	Cobble spall
552	TP6	"	Flake of tool slate
553	TP6	"	"	"
554	TP6	"	Flaked slate blank frag.
555	TP6	"	NS half
556	TP6	"	Retouched chert scraper frag.
557a-b	TP6	"	Chert flakes
558	TP5	1	Bifaced chert
559	TP5	1	NS
560	TP5	1	Tool slate
561	TP5	1	Retouched flake knife
562	TP5	1	Ground slate knife	In complete
563	TP5	1	Scrap of tool slate
564	TP5	1	NS	July 06
565	TP5	1	NS
566	TP5	1	NS	Broken
567	TP5	1	NS
567B	TP5	1	Chert, battered edge
568	TP5	1	NS
568B	TP5	1	Ground slate fragment
569	TP5	1	Slate ulu frag.
570	TP5	1	Slate ulu half
571	TP5	1	Tool slate frag.
572	TP5	1	Tool slate chip
573	TP5	1	Large frag. tool slate
574	TP5 shoreward	1&2	NS
575	TP5 shoreward	1&2	NS Edge trimmed
576	"	"	NS	2 notches on one end
577	"	"	NS
578	"	"	NS	small crude
579	"	"	NS
580	"	"	NS	broken
581	"	"	NS	small
582	"	"	Chert flake
583	"	"	Slate knife frag.
584	"	"	Tool slate chip
585	"	1&2	Frag. small ground slate blank NOT FOUND
586	TP5 upriver	1	Dome-shaped scraper?
587	TP5 upriver	1	Flake (burned chert?)
588	"	1	NS
589	"	1	NS
590	"	1	NS
591	"	1	NS	Fragmentary
592	"	1	NS	Fragment
593	"	1	Ground slate fragment
594	"	1	Cobble spall
595	"	1	Ulu on split shingle, battered
596	"	1	Ulu	Concave edge
597	TP5 shoreward	1	NS half
598	TP5 shoreward	1	NS half
599	NUMBER NOT USED
600	"	1	NS crude, small
601	"	1	NS small
602	"	1	NS
603	"	1	NS half
604	"	1	Slate sheet ground on one side
605	"	1	Slate with ground edge, crude
606	"	1	Slate chip
607	"	1	Ground slate sheet, incomplete
608	"	1	Ground slate knife frag.
609	"	1	Hone fragment
610	"	1	Ground slate knife. Frag.
611	"	1	Small biface frag.
612	TP5	2	NS
613	TP5	2	NS
614	TP5 shoreward	1&2	NS Crude
615	TP5 shoreward	1&2	NS only one end notched
611B	"	"	1&2	NS
612B	"	"	"	NS corner broken
613B	"	"	"	NS end broken off
614B	"	"	"	Hone
615B	"	"	"	Hone
616	"	"	"	Chert chunk
617	"	"	"	Thick worked chert
618abc "	"	"	3 flakes, 1 not red chert
619	"	"	"	Slate sheet ground on both faces
620	"	"	"	Slate frag. ground on one face
621	"	"	"	Slate frag. ground on both faces
622	"	"	"	", edge present
623	"	"	"	Slate ulu, half
624	"	"	"	Slate frag. ground on both faces
625	"	"	"	Thick piece tool slate
626	"	"	"	Long chipped slate blank, incompl.
627	"	"	"	Miniature retouched "cobble” spall
628	"	"	"	Tiny frag. ground. Slate
629	TP6	Mostly in gray sandy layer below red-brown.	NS
630	TP6	"	"	NS half
631	TP6	"	"	NS half
632	TP6	"	"	Tool slate frag.
633	"	"	"	Ground slate, small frag.
634	"	"	"	Scraped and sawn slate bar frag.
635	TP7	To red-brown	Chert flaked to a "nose” MISSING
636	TP7	To red-brown	Edge retouched chert flake
637	TP7	"	Small chert chip
638	"	"	Chert core chunk
639	"	"	NS
640	"	"	Piece of tool slate
641	"	"	"	"
642	"	"	"	"
643	"	"	"	"
644	"	"	"	"
645	"	"	"	"
646	"	"	Slate with naturally sharp edge
647	"	"	Piece of battered greywacke
648	"	"	Scrap of scratched slate
649	"	42 cm below Katmai	Ulu, small, naturally sharp edge
650-663	TP5 Upriver	1&2 (above red brown)	NS – multiple
664-676	TP5 Upriver	1&2 (down to red-brown)	NS fragments - multiple
677-686	TP5 Upriver	1&2 to red brown	Tool slate fragments
687	"	"	"	Ground slate fragment
688	"	"	"	"
689	"	"	"	Hone fragment
690ab	TP5	"	"	Chert flakes
691	TP5	4	Slate frag. polished one side	July 8
692	TP5	4	Spear head, tip missing
693	TP5	4	Lance blade, ends missing, OB style
694	TP5	3	Hone, sawn edge (OB style)
695	TP5	3	Spear tip, battered incomplete
696	TP5	3	Dart tip? Ends missing, slate
697	TP5	3	Ulu blade, incomplete
698	TP5	3	Lance stem, incomplete, coarse grd
699	TP5	3	Splinter of tool slate
700	TP5	3	Ground slate (spear?) frag.
701	TP5	3	Slate piece barely touched by a scraper (shows scraping technique at this level).
702	TP5	3 to red brown	Elongate flake
703	TP5	3	"	Tool slate
704	TP5	3	"	Ulu fragment
705	TP5	3	"	Short flake
706	TP5	3	"	NS
707	TP5	3	"	NS
708	TP5	3	"	NS notch on one side only
709	TP5	3	"	Maul frag.
710	TP5	3	"	Worked slate (blank frag)
711	TP5	6	Rusty pebble
712	TP5	6	Chert flake
713	TP5	6	Chert flake
714	TP5	6	Tool slate
715	TP5shoreward Gravelly soil above orange tephra Fractured cobble
716	TP5shoreward	Very gravelly soil above layer of #715. Battered greywacke slab
717	"	" "	"	Slate point tip
718	"	"	5 & deeper (below red-brown), mostly soily gravel 80 cm below
Katmai		Pebble
719	"	"	Flake (not chert)
720	"	"	Red chert chunk
721	"	"	Red chert chunk
722	"	"	Rusty pebble
723	"	"	Pumice abrader
724	"	"	Tip of ground slate blade
725	"	"	Small chert flake
726	"	"	Strip of tool slate
727	"	"	Unfinished lance, tip missing
728	TP5	Top of 3, highly inclined	Maul head cobble	July 11
729	TP5	L5 & deeper	Bar-shaped whetstone
730	TP5	L5 & deeper	Sawn slate scrap
731	TP5	"	Tool slate, bar shape
732	TP5	"	Sawn slate, heavy bar
733	"	"	Flaked slate tip of blank, short frag.
734	"	"	Flaked slate lance blank, long frag.
735	"	"	Cobble fragment
736	TP5	L7-8 streaked soil at site base	Pumice abrader	July 08
737	TP5	"	Red pumice pebble
738	TP5	"	Large struck blade
739ab	"	"	Chert flakes
740	TP5	"	Flat-edged slate bar, some grinding
741	"	"	"	" ground taper to edge
742	"	"	"	", no working
743	"	"	"	" short frag.
744	"	"	"	" short thin frag.
745	"	"	Piece of a small sawn blank
746	"	"	Long pointed pc of scraped slate
746B	"	"	Shorter scraped slate frag.
747	"	"	Slate with saw cut on face
748	"	"	Piece of tool slate
749	"	"	Slate scrap, scratched with saw cut
750	TP5shoreward	Bottom of gravelly soil c 90 cm below Katmai	Maul	12-Jul
751	TP5	Basal brown soil above orange tephra	Elongate cobble
752	TP5	"	Tool slate	08-Jul
753	TP5	"	Tool slate FELL APART, DISC.
754	TP5shoreward	Pebbly soil just above brown tephra, to 67 below Katmai Sawn slate strip
755	TP5shoreward	"	Chert chip
756	TP5shoreward	Below gravelly soil, may include base of site, up to 90 cm below base of Katmai Small slate slab with saw cut	Chert biface	July 12
757	"	"	"
758	"		Flake blade
759	"	"	Small chip of slate
760	"	"	Narrow blade-like flake of tool slate
761	"	‘	Elongate piece of tool slate
762	TP5shoreward "	”	Wide slate blank, some scraping
763	"	"	Blunted stem frag. small slate spear
764	"	"	Mid. frag. of small spearhead.
766	"	Tephra, possibly deepest TP5 items.	Lance midsection, saw cut one side.
767	"	"	Tool slate
768	"	"	Tool slate, thin
769	"	"	Tool slate
770	"	"	Blank frag., scraping started
771	"	"	Tool slate, shaping splinter
772	"	"	Tool slate, small piece
773	"	"	Pointed asymmet. tool slate blank
774	"	"	Stemmed point, edges battered
775	"	"	Large serrated knife stem
776	"	"	NS, end missing, depth aberrant
777	"	"	Long lance blade, ends missing
778-791 would start cataloge 480-496, renumbered because duplicated previous nos.
778	TP1	2 (10-20 cm)	NS	NS = notched stone, sinker
779	TP1	2	NS	End broken
780	TP1	2	NS	Half
781	TP1	2	NS	End broken
782	TP1	2	NS	End broken
783	TP1	2	NS	Side notched
784	TP1	2	NS	Crude
785	TP1	2	NS	Crude
786	TP1	2	NS
787	TP1	2	NS
788	TP1	2	Tool slate
789	TP1	2	Chert flake
790	TP1	2	NS	Lhotka
791	TP1	2	NS	"
792	TP5upriver	1st below red-brown	NS	Just below red brown soil
793	TP5upriver	"	NS	"
794	"	"	Tool slate, leafshaped
795	"	"	", shape of ulu blade half
796	"	"	, sheet frag.
797	"	"	Polished slate frag.
798	"	"	Tool slate flake
799	"	"	Tool slate sheet
800	"	"	Red chert flake or shatter
801ab	"	"	2 rounded pebbles, examples
802	"	Above basal tephras 55-60 below Katmai July 20 (no item)
803	"	"	Cubic block whetstone
804	"	"	Heavy blank, frag., grinding one face
805	"	"	Slate scrap, scraped on one face
806	"	"	Small pc. Slate scrap
807	"	"	Pointed slate scrap
808	"	"	Tool slate, tr scraping at stem
809	"	62 cm below Katmai in stony mixed blobby tephra	Flaked slate spear blank	20-Jul
810	TP5upriver	60-70 below Katmai	Red chert flake
811	TP5upriver	60-70 below Katmai	Lance midsection, unfinished?
812	"	"	Flaked tool slate, facial scratch
813	"	"	Tool slate
814	"	"	Slate pol. at edge on one side
815	"	"	Bar of tool slate
816	"	"	Poor cobble spall
817	"	74 below Katmai & deeper	Small scratched splinter of tool slate
818	"	"	Pointed frag of tool slate
819	"	"	Small sheet of tool slate
820	"	"	Slate lance frag.
821	"	85 cm below Katmai	Lg sheet slate with natural edge
822	"	77 below Kat. just above orange-brn tephra	Bayonet
823	"	c 1m below Kat in rocky mixed tephra at base site. Rusty aggregate		20-Jul
824	"	"	Flaked tool slate, elongate
825a-c	"	"	Scraps of tool slate.
826	"	"	Scrap tool slate, pol. on one face
827	"	"	Lance stem, fine polish
828	"	"	Lance midsection
829	TP8	L1&2 (top 20)	NS	July 20
830	TP8	L1&2	NS
831	"	"	NS
832	"	"	NS burned
833	"	"	NS half
834a-e	"	"	Slate scrap
835	"	"	Frag. edged slate blade, fits 849
836	"	" mostly 2	NS	July 20 PM
837	"	"	NS
838	"	"	NS
839	"	"	NS half
840	"	"	NS half
841	"	"	NS half
842	"	"	NS half
843	"	"	NS half
844	TP8	L1&2	Scraped slate scrap
845	"	"	Ground slate frag. with edge
846a-d	"	"	Red chert flakes-scatter
No No. assigned, not collected. Large cobble maul. Photographed and left on the beach at the site.
847ab	TP8	Below 20 cm (below L2)	2 red chert	July 20
848	"	"	Large red chert flake
849	"	"	Double-edged slate blade, fits 835
850	"	"	Slate blade (ulu?), not scraped
851	"	"	Sawn & scraped slate blank frag.
852	TP8	Below red-brown layer	NS 55 below Katmai in gray sand
853	"	"	Sawn & scraped slate bar
854	"	"	Ground slate frag. REPEATED
855	"	"	"	"
856	"	"	Tool slate, elongate
857	”	"	Flaked blank, pointed elongate
858	"	"	Chip of tool slate
859	"	"	Tool slate sheet frag.
860	TP8	67 below Katmai	Scraped slate slab	Fri. AM
861	TP8	47 below Katmai	Small stemmed slate point
862	"	65 below Katmai	NS bar shaped	Fri 23
863	"	70 below Katmai	Slate blade tip frag.
No item TP9	L1&2	(10-20 cm)	Granitic maul	July 21
No item TP9	L1&2	Greywacke maul
These two specimens are natural manoports; to reduce weight in transport and storage they were photographed and left at Katanee camp.
866	"	& 3	Flat hammerstone
867	TP9	L1, L2 & L3	Chert flake
868	"	19 cm below Katmai	Lance midsection
869	"	L1-3	NS small
870	"	"	Ulu frag?
871	"	"	Tool slate
872	"	"	Pointed tool slate
873	"	"	Tool slate tapered to edges
874	"	"	Abraded sheet of slate
875	"	L4	Tool slate
876	"	L4	Knife or scraper on greywacke flake
877	TP9	see 878	Tool slate
878	"	Black streak 56 below Katmai	Flensing blade or ulu, half
879	"	"	Worked red chert
880	TP9	Below 30 cm	NS
881	"	"	NS half
882	"	"	NS half
883	"	"	Chipped slate blank frag.
884	"	‘	Slate Sheet with scraping
885	TP9	78 below Katmai, compact soil with charcoal pcs. Sawn slate sheet
886	TP9	Appr. Same as 885.	Elongate slate (blank?)
887	"	"	Tool slate scrap
887B	"	"	Sawn slate, small piece
888	"	98cm below Katmai	Scraped & sawn slate.
889	"	Rocky zone at top of tephra	NS end missing
	c 85 below Katmai
890	"	"	Sawn & pol. Slate, 3 saw cuts
891	"	"	Pc of unfin small blade (pt.?)
892	"	c 64 below Katmai	Section of unfinished lance
893	"	c 70 below Katmai	Chipped slate blade, perform
894	"	"	Tool slate
895	TP9	"	Sm slate scrap with saw cut
896	TP9	Top of brown substrate tephra	Pigment grinder cobble
897	beach	Upriver end of site	Lamp
898	TP8riverside	Basal soils c 84 below Kat.	Lance blade
899	TP8riverside	"	Lance tip fragment
900	"	"	NS depth aberrant
901	"	"	Edged ground knife frag.
902	"	"	Lance frag.
903ab	"	"	Chert frags/flakes
904	"	"	Thick worked chert
905	"	Basal tephra c 87 below Kat.	Lightly used pounding stone
906B	"	"	Hone in 2 pieces
906-921	"	L1 (& some L2)	NS, 15 each
921B	"	"	"	NS
922	"	"	L2 (SOME L1-L4)	NS
923	"	"	"	NS
924	"	"	"	NS
925	"	"	"	NS
926	"	"	Cobble spall
927	"	"	Short frag lance section.
928a-i	"	"	9 red chert flakes

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