Anthropology: Columbia Plateau and Willamette Valley

Anthropology: Columbia Plateau and Willamette Valley

Introduction

Significant cultural and environmental changes have taken place in the northern and southern areas of Oregon in the past decades. However, there have been limited attempts to search for more excellent scale temporal changes in settlement, substance, technology, and cultural complexity. It is necessary to study the archaeological facts that give evidence of conflict, the social organization of early people Columbia plateau, and Willamette valley. Exploring these areas make it easy to understand the changing conditions in the natural environment as well as the social life of the ancient people.

Columbia Plateau

Evidence of Conflict and Defense

The Columbian plateau has traces of human existence. However, the earliest artifacts defined eras presently known in this region as Clovis fluted projectile indicators. These projectile points comprised of long-stemmed and leaf-shaped forms transferable to the following defined Win dust type. There is a huge and theatrical representation pecked into and decorated on basalt projection at the extended constricted of Columbia. According to one Wishram account, it signifies a traditional chief turned to stone by trickster god to watch over the individuals in the impending time of significant revolution. It became well-known as a guardian spirit during early periods when smallpox and other foreign illnesses raged all through the Northwest. In Wildcat Canyon, there were skeletons of dogs found at the different locations within the areas of the family unit of the site. Metric examination of these remains indicated similarities to the sleigh dogs of Siberia and thus large enough to have served the villagers of Wildcat Canyon as traction. Archaeologists have always considered the native people of this plateau as calm with well-recognized customs of inter-community collaboration. However, there was proof of individuals with projectile wounds and blunt force injuries appearing in the prehistory of the plateau. There is also proof of a male skeleton with healed skeletal fracture and flaked stone in his pelvic girdle, indicating the possibility of conflicts. The manifestation of self-protected settlements means increasing intergroup rivalry and communal stress in which the bow and arrow played a significant role. However, increasing population and social complications generated a different level of universal stress. The plateau society is seen in the numerous crowded households constructed locations chosen for their defensibility.

Resource Intensification

Traces of human existence in Columbia plateau shows proof of crowds of individuals with comparable traditions foraged all over the rocky center of Pilcher Creek. Some of these individuals fished for Salmons along the Columbia River and were seeking other types of resources in the highlands at different periods. Perishable bone and plant remains were not found in this region. However, the location of the upland suggested the hunt of animals like deer and collection of roots, berries, and other plants. These people also had Check cherry pits and bulrush, which could yield seeds for foodstuff and fibers used in making mats and baskets.

Furthermore, the examination of blood deposits on stone artifacts showed that people probably prepared rabbits for cooking near the fireplace and butchered deer, mountain sheep, and elk outside the house. People also camped in Marsh meadow to hunt and collect food. It is shown by the bones of mountain sheep, grinding stones, and pestles indicating the processing of vegetables. Also, not distant from this upland, there is proof of fishing to the East of Stockhoff and Mash meadow at prime Kirkwood bar. These sites show the importance of fisheries by hunters who were drawn to productive regions even in entirely mountainous and inaccessible areas.

Social Organization

The traces of people in this plateau indicated the existence of social groups. For instance, family units and multifamily groups visited established suburban camps in Paulina Lake. These people were highly mobile and resided at Paulina Lake for weeks or months as they collected the region’s numerous resources. The unwanted sample during the harvest period at this lake indicated the various directions from which people came on different occasions. Trading activities already well-demonstrated at The Dalles for some numerous years reached an elevated point at the beginning of the 19th century enhanced by trading merchandise and Spanish horses. As a result, social group arrangements of the Northwest Coast reigned. This class had a few wealthy lineages and imposed their possession of best fishing spots and controlled the flow of business.

Settlement

Archaeologists present evidence of permanent settlement in the Columbian plateau. The enormously dynamic stretch of the river that ran down from Celilo became an epicenter of the very densely inhabited region. In 1805, The Dalles was a home of an international community dominated by Wishram and Wasco ethnic groups. These tribes moved among the long-recognized Tenino and associated groupings, which sustained their conventional way of life. The development of homesteading and stock farming of both sheep and cattle and their incompatibilities led to the short rage conflict leaving Cabin, camping sites, and cemeteries. These traces of the site show that family homesteads existed there when the nearby town of Prineville was nearly founded.

Willamette Valley

Evidence of Conflict

There has been evidence of conflicts and defense in Willamette valley. The presence of evidence linked to harmful Pleistocene peat deposits has been accounted for near Woodburn peat. Signs include animal bones remain to show possible butchering marks and maybe human hair. The increase in weapons in this valley mirrors a rising concern with defense and conflict during the invasions to secure slaves who were taken to market centers on the Columbia River. There was also proof of deliberate burning indicating conflict. It can be seen in the growth of individual plants, including seed-bearing annuals and grasses.

Resource Mobilization

An increasing prominence on hunting has been mentioned for the frequency of projectile points in the late Willamette Valley regions. There were recovered devices like scrapers, flaked knives, and an all used in hunting and hide working points and sites, mortars, and pestles. Some western Oregon people raided their neighbors to acquire food supplies. Early inhabitants at Calapooia Midden location were concentrated on seasonal processing of vegetables mainly came. All these activities reveal a vast range of domestic operations and ways of finding food.

Social Organization

People in the Willamette valley were socially organized in homesteads and villages in this. The artifacts collected from Fuller and Farming mounds comprised of essential commodities like brass buttons and rings, glass trade beads, and rolled copper bangles. The Fuller and Farming mounds were perhaps established housing location and may have been larger villages than homesteads in Calapooia. An official record of groups was made at Champoeg agreement taking place in 1851 and Dayton events in 1855. However, the degree to which these groups replicate pre-epidemic public relations is not known. Champoeg, a national park situated on the south reservoir of Willamette River, urbanized as an economic and communal center. It served as a distribution point for farm produce since it was a spot for Willamette’s earliest grist mill. All these indicated the social organization of people who existed in this valley.

Settlement

Many sites with evidence of livelihood embody the increasing number and density of established housing places in the Willamette valley, reflecting an increasingly sedentary example. The Calapooia location most likely served as a family residential center. Those who settled here made it their home and shifted of concentration of primary residence occasionally. The Hurd site near Cobury on the eastern edge of the valley includes the remains of residential constructions. Its location on higher grounds and its unique artifacts collection further shows that the place was a more permanent settlement.

Conclusion

In conclusion, cultural artifacts in Willamette Valley and Columbia plateau indicate the persistence existence of people, conflict, and defense, settlement, subsistence, and their social organizations. Armaments like bows, arrows, knives, and the injured skeletons of people indicate the existence of conflict and defense. Social organization, settlement, and subsistence are shown by the villages, homesteads, trade, and ways of finding food in the regions. It is, therefore, essential to study the existence of human beings alongside these issues to understand the way of life of the early man in these regions.