An Early Holocene/Late Pleistocene Archaeological Site on the Oregon Coast? Comments on Hall Et Al. (2005)

Abstract

In the journal Radiocarbon, Hall et al. (2005:383) claim that 35-CS-9, located in Bandon Ocean Wayside State Park on the southern Oregon coast, is one of the few Oregon coast sites “that includes sediments and artifacts dating to the early Holocene and possibly to the late Pleistocene.” Their claim for an early Holocene or late Pleistocene human occupation rests on a single radiocarbon date of 11,000 ± 140 BP (12,710–12,680 cal BP) taken from charcoal found at least 20 cm below the nearest artifact. Although Hall et al. compile various kinds of geoarchaeological evidence to support this claim, their case is not convincing. While we applaud aspects of their analyses, the inferences they have drawn are not substantiated by the evidence they present. We agree that 35-CS-9 is a significant site but believe claims for the antiquity of its human use have been exaggerated.