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"This manuscript is based on excavations of three prehistoric sites located in western Washington, near the town of Granite Falls, and classified as The Old Cordilleran Culture/Tradition or OCT. This cultural designation was initially based on archaeological observations by B. Robert Butler in 1961. The three archaeological sites were designated as part of the Olcott Complex, a lithic industry and the name given to OCT material in western Washington. Little work has subsequently been completed that adds to the overall view Butler proposed and there is a lack of documented regional variation. This is partially due to poor preservation of cultural and organic materials and bioturbation of soils. This cultural tradition is thought to have originally been part of a later migration of people during the early Holocene from what is now Siberia. The date range of site occupation is between 7690 and 9630 cal BP"--
About the author
James C. Chatters is an archaeologist and paleontologist perhaps best known for his work on Naia of Hoyo Negro and Kennewick Man, both of which were presented on PBS's
NOVA. He is author of
Ancient Encounters and coeditor of
Macroevolution in Human Prehistory.
Jason B. Cooper is an archaeologist and cultural resources lead with the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Philippe D. LeTourneau is an archaeologist with the King County Historic Preservation Program in Washington and an affiliate curator at the University of Washington Burke Museum.
Summary
Examines an almost purely lithic record known in the Puget Sound region as the Olcott Complex. Only loosely described off and on since the early 1960s by a series of researchers, none of whom used the same analytical approach, the Olcott record has never been systematically analysed until now.
