Portland State Magazine Fall 2019

26 and another for 500 years during obviously less volatile ecological times. There were multiple indicators of tsunamis, says Sterling. “The clearest was a layer of sand.”The marine sand washed over wrecked houses and hearths and was preserved when the village was rebuilt on top of it. The researchers submitted 102 samples from the site for radiocarbon dating.They noticed there were periodic gaps in the dates they got back. Sterling says those gaps correlate with known major earthquakes in the geologic past. Previous research by geologists in the local coastal marshes found evidence of big tsunamis every 200 to 800 years with the first happening around 1,600 years ago, which correlates with the evidence at Čḯx w icәn. "It's rare to be able to see how a place evolves over 2,700 years," says Sterling. BUTLER says a major goal was to determine how the people socially negotiated environmental challenges. Animal records from two households allowed the team to compare whether tsunamis led people toward more cooperation or more independence in their quest for food. After a tsunami, the two households appeared to have worked more cooperatively gathering shellfish than before, while their fishing practices became more autonomous. Of all the animals, the use of birds changed the least after the tsunami. People in one household liked to catch inshore birds, while the other household favored offshore birds.The pattern continued after the tsunami, suggesting that the two households maintained a distinct identity or cultural knowledge about which birds to pursue, even after a tsunami and house rebuilding. Butler says the findings can help provide context for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe's planned curation facility that will eventually house the artifacts from the excavation. She says the animal histories can also help tribal biologists and state wildlife agencies as they look to restore some habitats in the severely degraded Port Angeles Harbor and surrounding coastal areas. More broadly, the study provides coastal communities with more detailed knowledge about local earthquake impacts than existed before. Butler says the project and their collaborations with the tribe created an opportunity for cultural healing. "Archaeology, when done right and with respect, can help heal the hurt that came about through colonialism," she says. "They were reunited with their own heritage. Archaeology is the physical evidence that they were there, and the scale of the project brought to the fore that tribal primacy that had not been in people's consciousness."  Cristina Rojas is a media relations specialist in the PSU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Images clockwise from top left: This bone comb found at the site is about 4.5 inches long. A recovered animal carving. A huge bear tooth was unearthed at the village. Photos by Seattle Times.