Geoarchaeology at Tseriadun (35CU7), Curry County, Oregon

by Anderson, Frederick C.

The continuation of geoarchaeological investigations at Tseriadun (35CU7)

contributes to the understanding of the site's depositional history and the associated

environments, thereby identifying the long term geomorphic change in the area and

providing the environmental context for local human activity as it is reflected in the

archaeological record. Meeting this goal involved collecting a sufficient number of

geoarchaeological samples within the area of potential effect of a proposed culvert

system and in adjacent site areas. A result of this research was the revision of the

model of landscape change at Tseriadun that serves as a platform for exploring how

environmental conditions may have affected human activity at the site. The location of

a paleochannel in the eastern site area led to assigning a relative period of time to

alluvial deposits in this area of the site due to the middle Holocene formation of Garrison Lake's southern bay. Conclusions are that site use was dependent upon the

degree of surficial stability within an area and that activities within all site areas

shifted in response to changes in environmental conditions, which were largely

determined by early Holocene marine transgression.