Tuesday, June 29, 2010

ANDERSON MARSH STATE PARK

THIS IS A STATE PARK THAT IS NEARBY CLEAR LAKE. IT IS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN POMO TERRITORY. I TEST EXCAVATED SOME UNITS THERE WITH STATE PARK ARCHAEOLOGISTS IN 1985 AT A LARGE PREHISTORIC VILLAGE. IT HAD SOME CUPULES AND WE FOUND PREHISTORIC TOOLS DATING TO ABOUT 10,000 YEARS AGO. THIS AREA HAS BEEN CONTINUOUSLY OCCUPIED FOR THAT LONG. IT IS A VILLAGE LOCATED NEARBY A LARGE MARSH AS WELL AS A SPIRITUAL MOUNTAIN CALLED MT. KONOCTI. THE POMO BELIEVE THAT THEY SHOULD NEVER CLIMB THIS MOUNTAIN. THE ARTIFACTS WERE VARIOUS OBSIDIANS WHICH WE IDENTIFIED BY COMPARING THEM TO SAMPLES FROM SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY. WE HAD SOME TOOLS OBSIDIAN HYDRATED TO DETERMINE THE AGE OF THEM. THERE WERE A FEW GROUND STONE FRAGMENTS AS WELL.

I WROTE UP A LARGE REPORT FOR STATE PARKS DESCRIBING OUR METHODS AND ALL OF THE ARTIFACTS AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS SITE. THERE WAS A HUGE REPORT FROM CALTRANS THAT I USED FOR MY COMPARISONS AND TYPES OF ARTIFACTS.

CLEAR LAKE IS CALIFORNIA'S OLDEST LAKE DATING TO PLEISTOCENE TIMES. THE ABORIGINAL HUNTERS PROBABLY SPEARED MASTODONS AND MAMMOTHS, GIANT PANTHERS, BEAVERS, AND DEER FOR MEAT AND COLLECTED MANY NATIVE SEEDS, GRASSES, AND PLANTS.

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