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North America Northwest Coast Pacific Northwest Pierce County Washington State Western United States Western Washington

Description

Six weir sticks and six pieces of double-weft twine wood. Fish weir consisting of six pieces of wood attached to each other by six smaller pieces of wood. Smaller pieces of wood twined over and under larger pieces. (D. Baughman 03/07/2003) This weir was treated with polythylene glycol in the manner described by Seborg (1962). Soil matrix was removed via a fine spray of water. Specimens were then soaked in ethanol for 2 days to reduce trapped water. After removal from the ethanol bath, specimens were soaked in a 2:1 aqueous solution of 1,000 molecular weight polyethylene glycol for 2 to 4 days. After this treatment, specimens were placed on wire racks to dry for approximately two weeks. Four years later, the specimens had dried out and were treated again. (This information was taken from the catalog record for 1983-72/1 which was found/excavated with the weir) K. Meyers 10/04/06. DESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS: On June 29, 2006, Archaeology staff used a fine dremel tool saw blade to carefully remove a 3.2g sample from one of the stakes. The section was selected because it provided the most likely spot for identification without having to remove a significant portion of the wood. A 1.0g sample of withe was also removed. This withe piece had already come loose from the weir. These two samples were taken in order to determine species identification and to get a radiocarbon date. The samples were sent to Sissel Johannessen, paleobotanist, Demeter Research. Please see L.183 in Past Perfect. Photos of the weir, before and after removal of the samples can be found at I:\Archaeology\1983-72. L.Phillips, 7/13/2006. The above mentioned samples were returned by Sissel Johannessen, Demeter Research on 8/17/2006. The fish weir stake, 2.7g upon return, was determined to be 12 year old Douglas-fir. The fish weir withe, 0.6g upon return, is likely Western redcedar, possibly 3 years old at the time of felling. Sissel Johannessen also found an orange organic material growing on the stake sample, but not the withe sample. The organic growth will effect radiocarbon dating, however the entire sample is not contaminated so BetaAnalytic will extract an uncontaminated portion for dating. See Johannessen, 2006. Photos of the returned samples can be found at I:\Archaeology\1983-72. K. Meyers 10/04/06. The 0.6g fish weir withe sample (Beta-222207, 1983-72/3Sa2) and 2.7g fish weir stake sample (Beta-222208, 1983-72/3Sa1) returned from Demeter Research were sent to BetaAnalytic for solvent extraction, SEM, and AMS dating on 10/09/2006. The fish weir stake sample will be separated to remove the orange organic contamination prior to dating. See loan # L.187 in Past Perfect. K. Meyers 10/09/2006. A radiocarbon date was successfully obtained for the fish weir withe sample and the fish weir stake sample. The fish weir withe, sample 1983-72/3SA2, was assigned a laboratory number of Beta-222207 by Beta Analytic. An conventional uncalibrated age of 320 +/- 40 years BP was obtained. Three radiocarbon ages were obtained through an intercept of the radiocarbon age with a calibration curve. The ages were: Cal AD 1530 (Cal BP 420) Cal AD 1560 (Cal BP 390) Cal AD 1630 (Cal BP 320) The age range for the calibrated data is Cal AD 1500 to 1640 (Cal BP 450 to 310). The fish wier stake, sample 1983-72/3SA1, was assigned a laboratory number of Beta-222208 by Beta Analytic. A conventional uncalibrated age of 380 +/- 40 BP was obtained. When the radiocarbon data was calibrated through the interception with a calibration curve, an age of Cal AD 1480 (Cal BP 470) was obtained. The age ranges obtained for the sample are Cal AD 1450 to 1520 (Cal BP 500 to 430) and Cal AD 1590 to 1620 (Cal BP 360 to 330). D. Sedar 4/30/2009.