New Research into the Old Cordilleran

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "New Research into the Old Cordilleran," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In 1961, B. Robert Butler proposed the concept of the Old Cordilleran Culture on the basis of relatively standardized lanceolate projectile points. Since 1961, archaeological research into Olcott sites, the Puget Sound manifestation of the Old Cordilleran Culture, has largely been focused on artifact descriptions and site-scale questions. Developments in technology, broadening in the number of well-studied sites, and new theoretical approaches have added to our understanding of the Old Cordilleran Culture. This session examines recent archaeological studies of Olcott sites in western Washington that expand on previous investigations to diversify our understanding of the period and make meaningful connections between the artifacts of the past and descendants of the people responsible for those materials.

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  • Documents (5)

Documents
  • Come Together Over Olcott: Recent Collaborative Investigations (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jennifer Ferris. Kerry Lyste.

    This is an abstract from the "New Research into the Old Cordilleran" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Olcott Site, 45SN14, was first recorded nearly 60 years ago by Butler, and was fundamental in defining the Old Cordilleran Culture. Situated upstream from two named Stillaguamish villages, the Olcott site was a heavily utilized hunting area for thousands of years. Although the site has been disturbed through the years from farming and domestic...

  • Geoarchaeology of Three Olcott Sites along the Elwha River, Clallam County, Washington (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sean Stcherbinine.

    This is an abstract from the "New Research into the Old Cordilleran" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Olcott sites are characteristically skewed toward lithic artifacts due to the acidic forested environment of western Washington. Site interpretations rely on several lines of evidence including landform type and age, soil formation, post-depositional processes, and vertical artifact distributions. Recent survey and excavations at three Olcott sites...

  • Geochemical Analysis of Crystalline Volcanic Rock Artifacts from Three Olcott Sites along the Elwha River, Clallam County, Washington (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Julia Furlong.

    This is an abstract from the "New Research into the Old Cordilleran" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Raw material sourcing of crystalline volcanic rock (CVR) artifacts through geochemical analysis has a decades long history in Olympic Peninsula archaeological research and is an important aspect of site interpretation. Recent archaeological investigations at three Olcott sites by Archaeological and Historical Services, EWU as a part of Washington...

  • Lithic Technological Organization at Three Olcott Sites along the Elwha River, Clallam County, Washington (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Caitlin Limberg. Christopher Noll.

    This is an abstract from the "New Research into the Old Cordilleran" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In western Washington, Olcott sites are generally understood to represent a period of cultural and technological stability that extended through the early Holocene into the middle Holocene. While some researchers have suggested subtle technological evolutionary developments occurred over time, Olcott sites have often been characterized as a...

  • A Perspective on Olcott from the Banks of the Elwha River, Clallam County, Washington (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Christopher Noll.

    This is an abstract from the "New Research into the Old Cordilleran" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Olcott sites, representing human presence during the early-to-middle Holocene, have been defined throughout western Washington on the basis of a few key attributes: lanceolate projectile points, the use of relatively coarse-grained crystalline volcanic rock for the majority of the tools, and the position of artifacts within B-horizon soils. The...