Ozette buried American Makah Indian Village, page 1

Ozette buried American Makah Indian Village, page

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Topic started on 2-10-2012 @ 10:36 AM by Hanslune

The ancient Makah village of Ozette in northwest Washington was buried for centuries under mud. Only to be found again when it was exposed by a storm in 1970.

The Makah inhabitants of Ozette lived in villages, inhabiting large longhouses made from western cedar. These longhouses had cedar-plank walls. The planks could be tilted or removed to provide ventilation or light. Cedar roots were used in basket making, while canoes were carved from whole trees to hunt seals, gray whales and humpback whales. The Makah acquired much of their food from the ocean. Their diet consisted of whale, seal, fish, and a wide variety of shellfish. They would also hunt deer, elk, and bear from the surrounding forests.

General overview of the Ozette site and what was found

Ozette: A North American Pompeii:

Archaeologists soon realized that they were dealing with the dream of virtually every archaeologist on earth: discovering an almost intact, buried village: a true Pompeii of the New World. The mud slide had sealed everything and created a low-oxygen, waterlogged environment, which prevented bacteria from attacking the organic remains. Organic objects such as wooden boards from plank houses, nets, basketry, wooden tools, wooden boxes, bone and antler harpoons, and cordage; all were preserved.

Location of Ozette in the American North west

Detailed map

Archaeological test pits were excavated at the Ozette site in 1967 by Richard Daugherty. However, it was not until 1970 that it became apparent what was buried there. After a storm in February 1970, tidal erosion exposed hundreds of well preserved wooden artifacts. The excavation of the Ozette site began shortly after. University students worked with the Makah under the direction of archaeologists using pressurized water to remove mud from six buried long houses. The excavation went on for 11 years and produced over 55,000 artifacts, many of which are on display in the Makah Cultural and Research Center. The museum opened in 1979 and displays replicas of cedar long houses as well as whaling, fishing, and sealing canoes.

Wiki summary of the Ozette archaeological site

Link to the Olympic Penisula Community Museum

Link to a paper on Ozette and other sites in Northwest archaeology

The main excavation link this is a two phase link, click here then look at the image below to find the Ozette report and click on it - warning its a big 200 MB file

Carving

Knife

Mace

Rock carving

Cedar bark bag

Wooden representation of a whales hump

The Makah Indians continued to hunt whales until modern times

Dead and beached whale

A modern aside

It was off Ozette in 1834 a dismasted, rudderless ship from Japan ran aground near Cape Flattery. The three survivors of the broken ship were held as slaves for several months by the Makah before being taken to Fort Vancouver, and then to London and eventually China

edit on 2/10/12 by Hanslune because: Added a link