Seattle Area Dig Reveals Trove Of 10,000 Year Old Stone Tools

What is describe as an ordinary dig in the Seattle region ended up revealing a cache of 10,000 year old stone tools, it has been announced. The discovery was made near to the Redmond Town Center mall, and was an ordinary archaeological survey taking place ahead of planned construction. This survey, though, proved fruitful, with in excess of 4,000 stone tools of various sorts dating back at least 10,000 years being unearthed. The tools are believed to have belonged to the Seattle region's earliest residents.

The dig was led by archaeologist Robert Kopperl, according to The Seattle Times, who said, "We were pretty amazed. This is the oldest archaeological site in the Puget Sound lowland with stone tools." Awls, stone flakes, spear tips, and scrapers were all among the tools discovered.

The discovery isn't too recent — it was first detailed briefly in a journal earlier this year; over the weekend, however, Kopperl talked about the discovery at a Redmond Historical Society sponsored presentation, calling widespread attention to the findings. Among other things, analysis of the tools has turned up trace evidence of meals consisting of salmon, bison, bear, deer, and sheep.

One site studied shows evidence of having been occupied by "small groups of people" that tasked themselves with both creating and fixing stone tools — this may explain the high number of items found. That area is on the Bear Creek shores. This is one of the most notable archaeological discoveries in western Washington.

SOURCE: Seattle Times