PORT ANGELES — Cranial bone fragments were unearthed at a Port of Port Angeles logging yard during an archaeological survey required for installation of a stormwater drainage system, a state official said Wednesday.
The finds were limited enough that the development project should be able to move forward, Lower Elwha Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles said.
The 20-acre logging yard is next to Lower Elwha Klallam tribal land where hundreds of ancestral remains and thousands of artifacts were unearthed in 2003 and 2004 during a failed $87 million state drydock project.
The village of Tse-whit-zen became one of the largest archaeological finds in the United States and marked a painful chapter in tribal and regional history.
The survey for the project began May 5 and ended Monday.
“They were three very small fragments,” State Physical Anthropologist Guy Tasa said.
“This is sort of very typical of the kind of human remains that we deal with fairly frequently across the state.”
Tasa said potentially affected tribes such as the Makah, Jamestown S’Klallam and Lower Elwha Klallam have been contacted to determine if they have an interest in the fragments’ disposition.
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, whose archaeologist, Bill White, participated in the survey, was comforted that more remains were not found, Charles said.
“This is nothing like what we had on Tse-whit-zen village,” Charles said.
“We are relieved, and we continue to work with the port in regards to the collaboration.
“We will go through the process spiritually and culturally in regards to taking care of … our ancestors.”
She said the survey also uncovered shell midden material, some bricks and glass materials.
The discoveries includes “few bone fragments for needles and things like that, but they were very limited and small in detail,” Charles said.
“We are looking forward to seeing the project move forward for what they have proposed.”
Port Director of Engineering Chris Hartman said planning can likely proceed on the stormwater improvement project.
“I think we will be able to develop a plan and move forward,” he said.
The infrastructure improvement project, located on Port Angeles Harbor, is required under the taxing district’s agreed order with the state Department of Ecology that expires Dec. 31 and will have to be extended well into 2021, Hartman said.
Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney-Coroner Mark Nichols said he was notified of the discovery three or four weeks ago as required under the state archaeological excavation permit, issued by the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.
Hartman said a report by the survey consultant is expected to be completed in six weeks under a $125,000 contract. He did not know how much, or if, the report will be made public.
The location of Native American artifacts and remains is nondisclosable under state law.
Under the contract, the survey included the digging of 169 shallow test pits.
Tse-whit-zen village extends into the logging yard, Charles said in an earlier interview, suggesting at least shell middens might be found at the site.
The survey contract with Australia-based Cardino assumed that up to 100 artifacts would be discovered, Hartman said in a staff report.
The survey is “the first of many steps” in the project, port General Council Brian Wendt said.
“The is a survey to get a sense of what is there so we can inform our design, and we are still at that design stage,” he said Wednesday.
“There are a lot more steps that need to be followed.
“We are just trying to go about this in a thoughtful and responsible way.
“We are trying to understand what is there.”
According to the archaeological site alteration and excavation permit application, if the archaeological investigation leads to the discovery of human remains, the port and tribe are to follow the August 2006 Tse-whit-zen settlement agreement for their treatment, mitigation and disposition.
“The state physical anthropologist will make an initial determination of whether nonforensic skeletal human remains are Indian or non-Indian to the extent possible based on the remains within two business days of notification of a finding of such nonforensic remains,” according to the permit.
Under the stormwater project, effluent will be directed to a test point and pumped out in an above-ground pipe to a stormwater treatment facility before being discharged into the harbor.
The existing stormwater treatment facility will be modified and about 10 acres of the log yard paved to give the entire area a hard surface.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
