Examples of some of the items found at the site

The remains of numerous meals of chiton, mussel, barnacle, abalone, fish, bird, and mammal were mixed in with discarded stone tools, debitage, broken glass, and pieces of ceramic in the midden.

This is a picture of some of the beads and blanks found at the site

The use of 1/8 inch screen for the entire excavation allowed for the recovery of fish vertebrate, rodent teeth, sea urchin spines, finishing flakes, as well as tiny beads. Several 20x20 cm columns from the midden, and all other excavation areas of the site, were bagged for future flotation and other soil tests.

The midden contrasts sharply with the areas almost devoid of organic remains but sprinkled with chert and obsidian bifaces, projectile points, flakes and shatter. We tested one of these areas to a depth of approximately 80cm below surface and found a diverse range of lithic artifacts down to that depth. These contrasts were quite accurately predicted by results of remote sensing, including soil resistivity and magnetometer surveys, done in 1994 that showed the potential for discrete "activity areas."

While the project spotlights a discrete time and space, the issues involved are relevant to all culture contact studies and significant for the following specific reasons: 1) it is an example of Russian colonialism which can be compared with the more numerous studies of Spanish systems, especially in the United States and California; 2) globally, it is in a geographical area that could be considered "peripheral" to the Russians, Spanish, and, in some ways, to the Native Americans; 3) temporally, it is in an area that would have seen drastic change in a short time period because of the limited Russian occupation; 4) the Kashaya are documented in the ethnohistoric record and have one of the richest ethnographic records in North America; 5) this research will also help promote the public image of native history and involvement within the State parks system through the exchange of knowledge among the native, academic, and local communities; 6) archaeological research in the area is limited and no previous excavations have been done on the ridge near Fort Ross; 7) and last, but certainly not least, this project is particularly conducive to the study of gender in a culture contact situation.