DIAMOND POINT — The skeletal remains of a prehistoric woman found at Diamond Point in August were laid to rest in a private ceremony earlier this month.
Guy Tasa, state physical anthropologist with the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, said the remains were reburied close to where they were discovered.
A spiritual leader with the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe led the half-hour ceremony, Tasa said.
200 to 2,000 years old
The age of the bones was “anywhere from a couple hundred years to as much as 2,000 years,” Tasa added.
The woman’s skull was unearthed by contractor Jim Bishop as he was replacing dirt after installing a septic tank for property owner Dave Salmon.
In the days that followed, tribal leaders helped state archaeologists and Clallam County sheriff’s deputies sift through the surrounding dirt.
They discovered long bones, bone fragments and a pelvis.
The bones were taken to the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation in Olympia for analysis before being returned to the tribe for burial in a cedar box Oct. 1.
Tasa said the discovery of ancient bones is far more common in places such as King and Whatcom counties than it is on the North Olympic Peninsula because those places have more development.
He noted that 2,000 years “really isn’t a long time in terms of the amount of time people have been here.”
Tasa said he was pleased that the process happened “relatively quickly.”
“I think the landowner was pretty happy with the way things turned out, and the tribes were as well,” he said.