Archaeology
USFS Passport in Time, Pine Creek 2004
By Val Aubrey copyright 2004, revised 2006

Eagle Lake has long been a very mystical, magical and spiritual place. You can hear the whispers of the ancient Native Americans as the breeze blows through the evergreens and sage. Physical evidence of their presence is the rock rings that are located on the downstream side of the Pine Creek bridge in Spalding, across from the egg collection facility.

The planned improvements for the egg collection facility site includes some stream-bank stabilization for erosion control, a more user friendly and handicapped accessible viewing area (during the spawn) and flush toilets that will require excavation for a septic tank. These improvements necessitated an archaeological study be completed before the construction could proceed.

The USFS Passport in Time program was the fastest way to get the project done. The Passport in Time program consists of USFS archaeologists, volunteers and in this case Native American Monitors. The project was sponsored by the Lassen National Forest’s Heritage Resources program and funding received from the Lassen County Resource Advisory Committee ($11,000). The bill totaled about $22,000 for the one week study.

Some of the volunteers have participated in many PIT programs all over the nation. We felt very fortunate to be selected as volunteers for a project that is literally in our back yard. They also sought local input and information especially about all the rock dams crossing the creek.

We really met a lot of nice people from many different backgrounds. Some PIT volunteers have countless hours logged in their “passport” by the USFS.

It’s not just a matter of digging a hole and sifting through the dirt. There has to be consistency throughout the digging, drawing and sifting of material. So learning the correct way of excavating a unit was critical for us first-timers. A unit is the term for the 1 square meter hole that is dug in 10 cm layers.

The intent of the PIT program is to provide education and awareness of the pioneer and Native American (cultural) history. Eagle Lake District Archaeologist / Acting Resource Officer Christine Hill as well as several archaeologists from the USFS Almanor District, and USFS Mendocino District as well as Native American Monitors from the Atsugewi, the Apwaruge and Susanville Indian Rancheria Youth Group were all a part of this wonderful program that hopefully will enlighten us all to the rich history of Eagle Lake.

There has not been a lot of Native American research or studies done in the Eagle Lake area. May of us know of and appreciate the fact that the Native Americans were here, but, don’t forget that they are still here and that is very important to remember. There are a few books about the pioneers that are very good and are usually available locally.

The area north of Eagle Lake was inhabited by the Atsugewi (Atsoo-gae-wi) tribe. Apwaruge (Juniper tree People) and Atsuge (Pine tree people) were the two subgroups of the Atsugewi. Atsugewi derives from Atsuke; Atsuke is a native name of a place on Hat Creek that is “in the middle of Atsuge territory. (from Atsugewi, T.R. Garth, Resource material made available for volunteers by the USFS).

The Atsuge (also known as the Pit River tribe) were not of the horse culture, however the Paiute and Modoc-Klamath Indians whose territory bordered that of the Atsuge from the north and east rode horses. The Paiute and Modoc/Klamath Indians were “slave raiders coming from the unprotected north and east created sever population attrition, beginning possibly as early as 1725 (Garth 1965:148-151). The un-mounted Atsugewi could offer little resistance. Pit River slaves became important in trade at the great Dalles Mart on the Columbia River. Informants cited the Spanish as their earliest contact with whites, suggesting that the Paiute-Shoshoni may have carried Pit River slaves as far as the Southwest (Garth 1965, resource material).

The Apwaruge wintered in Dixie Valley and Little Valley located northwest of Eagle Lake. The Atsuge wintered in the Hat Creek area to the west and north to Burney. A common language united the two groups.

The archaeologists spent several days at the site checking out the features and measuring out the 25 units that were to be excavated. The features of the site included the rock rings located west of the egg collection facility, Southeast to the old Dow Cabin and outbuilding remains to the Northeast where a newly added feature of the Dow Root Cellar, across Pine Creek to the terrace leading back to the rock rings.

The newly added Root Cellar wasn’t originally a part of the excavations because know one knew it was there. Our dogs found it many years ago and after showing it to the archaeologists it was added to the features of the site. Cherleene, an architectural artist from Susanville prepares to draw the feature while Randy observes.

Units are 1 square meter. Units are excavated in 10 cm layers. Each layer is

drawn to scale. As hearth rocks and larger artifacts appear they are drawn into the other levels for as deep as they may go. The drawings are an important piece of the puzzle because the research and testing may and probably will be done by someone other than the person who dug it up. It’s very important that the way you excavate follow a rule for consistency throughout any archaeological excavations.

The rock rings near County Road 518 (Spalding Road) are the only visible remains of a past exceeding those of the pioneers. However, it was not known what these rings were used for or who used them. Many guesses have been made from fish traps to smoke houses.

Fish traps were believed to be the main use because they were located next to the creek and are inundated with water during high flows of Pine Creek in spring. However, with the watershed being altered by logging and railroads of the recent past and the dam across Pine Creek, the water would probably not have inundated the rings as it does now. And, that during that time the creek may have flowed year round.

Back before the Pine Creek Bridge was put in (late 60’s early 70’s) there wasn’t much consideration for Native American Cultural sites. Some of the rings were destroyed and one that I know of had been moved while the bridge was being built. Fortunately it appears that one of the two rings was intact.

The Atsuge built rock rings and would use cedar or other bark angled up to the center that was open for smoke ventilation. Typically the hearth was located in the center of the dwelling. After about 20 cm deep a possible hearth rock was found. Pretty soon more rocks and more charcoal. There was a heavy deposit of charcoal in the center of the hearth and a sample was taken for carbon dating. There was also some burnt bone samples, a grinding rock, two partial projectile points dating back possibly 3000 years (by point styles and shapes) as well as a few flakes of obsidian and basalt. (see photos below) The “on the spot” educated guess would most likely lead one to believe these rings were dwellings rather than much of anything else. The ring (photo on right above) was found to be lifeless. No doubt that one was moved from its original location.

All the test units proved to have artifact in them. I was on unit 21 on the first day. It was in the sagebrush, not too far from the cabin located on the premises. We immediately began finding flakes of obsidian, basalt, charcoal and burnt bone when screening the dirt that we were excavating. Along with what is considered a “large” amount of artifact we found a single edge modified projectile point in our unit. We eventually went 70 cm deep.

All the units experienced the same baked layer of dirt and sand at about 30 to 40 cm deep. It had the consistency of asphalt and was extremely hard to break up. However, many artifacts continued to show up below that level. We did find charcoal at just about every level. Forest fires being quite normal explained why we were finding charcoal at every depth, but what could explain the catastrophic event that cooked the soil at that level. That will have to wait until the completion of the study.

Several other units went 100 centimeters deep (for all of us incher’s that’s about 39 inches). Artifacts continued to show up but with less frequency at that depth. I can’t venture to say how deep correlates with time but I believe that our archaeologists are conservative when estimating the age of the site (prior to carbon dating) at 1500 to 3000 years old.

When excavating a unit, it is done one level at a time using small trowels and some brushes (when needed). We were using 10 cm increments in our 1 meter square unit. If a rock or large artifact is found we were very careful about how it was excavated until we knew more about it. Was it just a rock or was it part of a larger hearth, for example.
Each level was painstakingly drawn to scale as much as possible. Much of our artifact was in the form of obsidian and basalt flakes that only showed up once sifted through a 1/8 to 3/16 inch screen. They are placed in small plastic bags and labeled by unit and depth layer. Before the artifacts are permanently cataloged there are a few steps involved between digging them up and cataloging them for analysis.

The artifacts are placed in a separated screen while keeping their bag ID’s with each set of artifacts and are rinsed of any loose dirt. (Right) Then each piece and fragment is individually scrubbed and separated by type of stone, counted and a new tag was made. (bottom left) Our Native American Monitors checked for any mistakes prior to placing them in the file box for future testing and study.

This is a basalt point. The shape correlates on the chart I have as a Southern Cascade Serrated Series. The points are typically bi-faced (or tooled on both sides)
The archaeological term is edge modified.

This is believed to be a pendant. The hole was probably drilled using sand and a bow-drawn stick. This was from highly compressed granite. It is about ¼ inch thick and polished smooth on both sides. Because it is not complete, it may have been a disk, no matter, it was a treasured piece.

This is an obsidian projectile point. Considered a corner-notched point. There are many different names for the types of points and the chart we have to go by was not complete. So the age could still vary between 1500 and 3000 years.

This is a grinding rock used in conjunction with a mettate (sp?) This beautiful artifact was as smooth as a babies bare behind and must have seen a lot of use in its day.

This picture doesn’t capture the indentation in this rock. It was used with a basket placed on the concave area and food was typically strained through a basket by pressing roots or berries through the bottom using a rock similar to the one above.

This is a glass trade bead. Trade with Hudson Bay fur trappers could have possibly happened as early as the 1830’s. Trade was also very common with neighboring tribes. This is a very special find.

We definitely found enough artifacts to fit the criteria for listing as a National Native American Archaeological Site. The lab work should be completed by the government on all the artifacts as well as carbon dating information by June 2006. We are planning to post the documents on our website as soon as we get them.

Val Aubrey, copyright 2006

See the Final Report here prepared by: Alex DeGeorgey, M.A., RP A, Sentinel Archaeological Research, LLC735 Lytton Station Road, Geyserville, Ca 95441Contributions by: Mike Avina, B.S, Beta Analytic, Inc. Tim Carpenter, M.A. Risa Huetter, B.S. Richard Hughes, Ph.D. Eric Wohlgemuth, Ph.D.

This is a large file, please take the time to download it. This report encompasses past archaeological studies at Eagle Lake too.

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The physical aspect of the study ended on the fifth day. All the holes were filled and all the equipment removed, but evidence remained of our being there. Grandfather must not have been very happy with the disturbance of the site. Within hours of leaving the area a tremendous thunder storm suddenly struck in Spalding and seemed to be aimed at the site (and that is an understatement). Lightening was hitting the ground between my home and the arch site. (My home is located less than ¼ mile from and within sight of the egg collection facility.) Rain began falling as if it was forced to the ground under great pressure as if to erase the remaining evidence of the disturbance. After depositing an inch of rain in a hour the storm disappeared as quickly as it began.