POLLEN, STARCH, PHYTOLlTH, AND PROTEIN RESIDUE ANALYSIS OF THREE HOPPER MORTAR BASES FROM THE LOGAN VALLEY, MALHEUR NATIONAL FOREST, OREGON

Summary

Three hopper mortar bases from the Logan Valley in Malheur National Forest, Oregon, were

washed to recover pollen, starches, phytoliths, and protein residues in order to determine what

types of resources might have been processed with these tools. Soil samples associated with each

hopper mortar were processed and examined to serve as controls. The Logan Valley Aspen Grove

site is located in this valley and produced one of the mortar bases for analysis. A variety of artifacts

have been recovered from this site, including obsidian bifaces related to tool manufacture,

diagnostic projectile points, choppers, scrapers, awls, drills, one mano, one pestle, one edge-ground

cobble, one hammer stone, and approximately 40 hopper mortar bases, suggesting that

a wide range of activities took place. Based on diagnostic projectile points, the site appears to

have been utilized from 10,000 to 100 BP, with the most use within the past 1000 years. There is

no clear association between the hopper mortar bases and specific projectile point types.

Recovery of the hopper mortar bases is particularly interesting since there are no

ethnographic/ethnohistoric records for use of hopper mortars in this portion of Oregon. The hopper

mortar bases were distributed in groups of one to three over a linear area stretching for about two

miles in length. It is postulated that the mortar bases were used by individual family groups for

processing of a locally available food crop prior to transport to a lower elevation camp or for general

food processing at an upland camp that was used for an extended period of time.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• PaleoResearch Institute

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