A new history

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Big things were happening in the eighth and ninth millennia B.C.E. Archaeologists and anthropologists generally agree that the period saw the beginnings of agriculture, the first settled human communities and the origins of writing systems. The most recent ice age had come to an end, resulting in rising sea levels and the flourishing of flora and fauna. 

People were on the move, too — including in North Idaho, where previous research indicated they wouldn’t have yet populated.

Based on earlier archeological findings, the oldest evidence of human occupation in the local area dated to between 6,000 and 7,000 years ago. However, new artifacts uncovered during a recent construction project on U.S. Highway 95 near McArthur Lake have pushed back that timeline to 10,546 years ago.

“Where we all live, the archeology hasn’t been as well documented as a lot of other places yet. There’s just been hints that there could be an earlier archaeological component,” said Jyl Wheaton, an archaeologist and member of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, who led the dig. “Traditional Kootenai knowledge talks about geologically a time before — an older time that lines up with geological events. That’s why I always thought there could be older things.”

The discoveries were made as a result of earth-moving for the U.S. 95 project, which the Idaho Transportation Department undertook to rebuild a two-lane section of the highway, add wider shoulders and build a 300-foot bridge to give wildlife a safe way to travel beneath the road in order to reduce animal strikes.

Cultural resource monitors with the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho at work on the Seven Eagles archeology dig near McArthur Lake. Courtesy photo.

Because the work occurred on Kootenai tribal land, it was already known that workers would uncover cultural resources during excavation.

“ITD began a partnership working with the Kootenai Tribe to make sure that we had a good understanding of what was going to be in the ground before they started disturbing the earth,” said CarrieAnn Hewitt, who served as ITD project manager on the U.S. 95-McArthur Lake project.

Wheaton joined the discussions in 2019 — not only because of her archeological training but as part of the consultation process required by the relationship between tribal, state and federal governments.

She worked with ITD and contractor Archeological and Historic Services to determine how deep to dig, and once dirt started getting turned, “they found thousands of artifacts,” Wheaton said, including stone flakes, projectile points and fire-cracked rocks.

“Stuff that indicated that humans had been there,” Wheaton said. “We knew that going in, so we thought that we had learned what we could from the site, and that’s when it was OK to go ahead with construction [on the highway project].”

That was in the summer of 2021. Meanwhile, 10 tribal members were brought on as cultural resource monitors to follow behind the machines, looking on the ground for artifacts, then collecting and recording them — “basic archeology recovery,” Wheaton said.

While Hewitt said it was expected that crews would uncover more arrowheads and other artifacts, “it wouldn’t be anything that we would stop construction for because we’d already had thousands of them.”

The monitors were there “in case we found something more significant. And we did,” she said.

One day on the site in the summer of 2023, a side cut into a sand dune revealed “some really strange, weird lumpy shapes — I couldn’t figure out what they were,” Wheaton said.

She and the monitors investigated further, finding multiple points that appeared to have been crafted in an older style than what they were expecting, mingled with other artifacts that coincided with the already established timeline.

Then, beneath 12 feet of sand, they discovered a hard line of calcium-rich sediment (called a concretion) with a distinctive orange coloration atop even more sand. Wheaton took photos and sent them to her Professor, Loren Davis, at Oregon State University — himself famous for discovering the oldest evidence of human occupation in Idaho at the 16,000-year-old Cooper’s Ferry site along the Salmon River. 

The Seven Eagles archeology dig near McArthur Lake. Courtesy photo.

He told Wheaton that it looked like she’d found a preserved ground surface — referred to as a “paleosol” — and if she found an artifact within that layer, it would function like a time capsule.

Excited, she returned to the site the next day. It had rained in the meantime, making it a good opportunity to uncover whatever might be in the paleosol.

“Sure enough, I found an inch-by-inch flake in the side cut near these weird concretions,” Wheaton said. 

She returned with three monitors, who took sediment samples and screened them, finding even more flakes. Wheaton took those results and shared them with Davis, who traveled to the site the next day.

“Within like 20 minutes of digging, we found a projectile point, and we found what looked like fire-modified rocks that could have been a hearth and we also found some charcoal all in the same little space,” she said.

Radiocarbon dating of the charcoal returned the date of 10,546 years old.

“This is by far the oldest site in this area now,” Wheaton said.

“We knew 6,000-7,000 years ago it seemed like there were people around — it was definitive with these Cascade points. This point that we found had a stem point following the Western Stem tradition, which seems to be older,” she added. “I always thought that stuff could be there, and there it was.”

When the importance of the find became clear, Wheaton said Davis told her, “you just need to take a moment because you’ve done it. Every archeologist dreams of it, and now you’ve done it.”

The discovery of the older-than-expected point required a discussion with ITD about how to proceed.

“It was a challenge because we had this special digging that we had to do for the paleosol, but we still had to keep construction going to keep with our schedule,” Hewitt said. “With Jyl’s help and with the tribe’s help we were able to. … It was a really great partnership of working together and understanding the needs of everybody and trying to be accommodating to each other and understanding the importance of what each group was trying to do. It was really great working together and we both had great outcomes.”

For that collaboration, Wheaton and Hewitt shared the President’s Transportation Award from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials — the organization’s most prestigious honor — which they received Oct. 31 in Philadelphia.

The discovery of the paleosol and artifacts within it required the establishment of another archeological site.

“This was significant for the tribe, this was significant for science and it also met the National Historic Preservation standards of ‘significant,’” Wheaton said.

Neither Wheaton nor Hewitt were aware of any other instance when an ITD project resulted in such a robust collaboration nor yielded such exciting archeological findings. Beyond that significance, Wheaton agreed the project made history on a number of levels — including for the Kootenai Tribe.

“To have native people using science to learn more about their culture and getting to be a part of the process from the beginning is a big deal,” she said. “A lot of times, it’s just the natives giving input, but then experts come in and do everything and the natives step aside.”

In this case, working on the second dig alongside Portland-based Willamette Cultural Resources and Wheaton, the tribal monitors became archeologists.

“They went in not knowing how to use a compass and not really understanding maps to going to archaeology field school and coming out with skills,” Wheaton said. “Not only did they get to be part of this, but it actually pushes history back. I’m proud of everybody for that.”

Wheaton and the crew of monitors even named the secondary site — a distinction only given to the most significant archaeological digs. They dubbed it “Seven Eagles.”

“On the very first day that we were all out there, seven eagles just circled and circled and circled while we worked. And so that’s our site and that’s what it’ll be known as when we get the word out and start to present all the data findings to the world,” Wheaton said.

“For the tribe and for tribal people, it shows that we can use science for our own purposes and for our own ideas and we can frame our own questions about our past and use science to prove them. That’s big,” she added. “Tribes a lot of times don’t have that opportunity; they can use science but they don’t get to create the science. Science is something pointed at native people in general. And then for our tribe to be associated with this place for so long — again, it validates who we are. … 

“Those are our people and that’s how long we’ve been around, and now we have radiocarbon dates to prove it.” 

Further analysis of the artifacts and other materials is ongoing, including the investigation of soil samples looking for pollen, bone and shell fragments to discover what kinds of plants and animals may have been present on the landscape. A sample of obsidian found at the site is also being analyzed, and the work is anticipated to be finished in less than a year.

“There will be a lot more to learn,” Wheaton said. “Right now, we know it’s older than anything else. And we’ll see what we can find out from there. …

“What this will do is shift projects now, whether its construction or any kind of earth-moving, it’s going to raise the awareness that the potential to hit this deep paleosol layer is there, and that opens the potential for more things to be learned, more things to be found,” she added. “That’s kind of where it sits.” 

Because artifacts belong to the owner of the land on which they were found — and Idaho owns the land — the materials will end up at the state repository at the University of Idaho, where they’ll be held in secure, humidity-controlled conditions for preservation, study and reference — and stand as a reminder of the area’s far more ancient indigenous history. 

“As long as there have been humans in North Idaho, there have been Ktunaxa people. We have always known this fact, just as we have always embraced new technologies and new people to these lands,” Wheaton said. “At McArthur Lake, we used science to support these facts and to deepen our connection to our ancestral past. It was a transformative experience for each of us involved, and I hope the improvements made extend far beyond the highway.”