Kurt Perkins
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| Figure 1: Map of Oregon showing location of Juniper Lake site. |
The Juniper Lake archaeological site was discovered by Fred Nials and the Sundance field crew during the summer of 2001, during the Alvord Basin archaeological survey (Figure 1) (Alvord Basin). The site is situated within fossil sand dune deposits that appear to span the early, middle, and late Holocene. The exposed face of this dune ranges from 2 to 8 m thick. Within the exposed profile are several distinct stratigraphic layers that contain prehistoric artifacts and charcoal lenses interpreted to be hearths. The geomorphic setting and stratigraphy of the site are reminiscent of the Skull Creek Dunes, Catlow Valley, southeast Oregon (Mehringer and Wigand 1986). The goals of the 2001 field research at Juniper Lake focused on (1) site recording, (2) preliminary geoarchaeological studies, and (3) collection of radiocarbon and sediment samples for laboratory analysis.
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| Figure 2: Juniper Lake dune. |
Field work at Juniper Lake during 2001 focused on site recording and geoarchaeological research. The Sundance field crew completed an intensive surface survey. Several projectile points (mostly Rosegate and Elko series points) were recovered, as were more than 200 pieces of ground stone.
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| Figure 3: Fred Nials and Juniper Lake stratigraphic profile. |
Geoarchaeological studies included drawing of the site's exposed stratigraphic profile, as well as soil augering (by Fred Nials and Kurt Perkins) to establish the horizontal extent of the deposits preserved in the stratigraphic profile. The auger hole was excavated about 20 m behind the exposed profile, following 10-cm intervals to a depth of 6.4 m. Coring demonstrated that some of the artifact-bearing deposits exposed in the profile are laterally preserved across a large part of the site. Fourteen charcoal samples, as well as several shell and bulk sediment samples, were collected from the profile for radiocarbon dating and sedimentary analyses. Stone artifacts and hearth features are clearly preserved in the late Holocene deposits of the sand dune, and it appears that cultural remains also occur in deeper deposits that may date to the early Holocene, prior to 7,000 years ago.
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| Figure 4: Diane Ness and George Orr collecting charcoal samples from the Juniper Lake dune. |
The Juniper Lake site holds great potential for learning about prehistoric landscapes and cultures in the Alvord Basin. Future research will likely include a detailed profiling of the site's stratigraphy, as well as excavation of a small portion of the site to recover artifacts and ecofacts that can be used to reconstruct human paleoecology and paleoenvironments. Additional cleaning of the base of the dune profile and test excavations will establish whether early Holocene cultural materials are preserved in the site.
Special thanks to Scott Thomas and the Burns District, Bureau of Land Management, as well as Fred Nials, Peter Wigand, and Alyce Branigan for their guidance.
Mehringer, Peter J., Jr., and Peter E. Wigand
1986 Holocene History of Skull Creek Duns, Catlow Valley, Oregon, U.S.A. Journal of Arid Environments 11:117-138.