FIELDWORK AT SCRI-549

SCRI-549 is located along the seacliff overlooking the northern end of Christi Beach. The site consists of distinct strata of midden deposits, all except one less than 15 cm thick. These are separated from each other by mudflow deposits that accumulated on the raised marine terrace that runs the length of Christi Beach. All midden strata at this site are buried, and they are visible only in eroded areas near the edge of the seacliff. The seacliff in the vicinity of the site is bisected by two deep ravines extending back to the hills to the northeast, as well as a number of small gullies extending several meters back from the seacliff edge. Because most of the midden deposits are unexposed, the full extent of the site is unknown; indeed, the areal extent and location of each midden stratum probably varies.

The midden strata in the locality of our excavation are as follows:

Stratum I: Buried under 15-20 cm of alluvium beginning at the current surface of the marine terrace where not affected by erosion. It is only about 10 cm thick and consists mainly of mussel shell. No samples were collected from this stratum because its vertical position indicated that it was deposited some time after the red abalone midden stratum that had initially attracted my attention to this site.

Stratum II: Begins approximately 1.5 m below the uneroded ground surface. This midden stratum is 65 cm thick at the location of excavation, but its thickness varies throughout the area of the site. The midden contains dense concentrations of mussel shell fragments and frequent whole or nearly whole red abalone shells.

Stratum III: The uppermost of three closely-spaced midden strata. Each is only a few cm thick and consists almost exclusively of mussel shell fragments. It is about 10 cm thick and begins about two meters below the uneroded ground surface.

Stratum IV: The middle of three thin midden strata, eight cm thick and beginning about 2.2 m below the uneroded ground surface.

Stratum V: The lowermost of the three closely-spaced midden strata, 8 cm thick and beginning 2.4 m below the uneroded ground surface. This stratum merges with Stratum IV about 70 cm west of the location where excavation took place.

Stratum VI: The basal midden stratum at the site, 1.2 m below Stratum V and approximately 3.6 m below the uneroded ground surface. This stratum is 12 cm thick, and it appears to be very localized in that it is visible only in the vicinity of one of the gullies that extends inland from the seacliff several meters. It consists of dense mussel shells at the location of excavation, many of the shells (valves) being complete. Pairs of valves that comprise one mussel often were found in articulated position, implying that they underwent very little disturbance when buried by alluvium very soon after discard by the site's inhabitants.

I wished to collect only small samples of midden deposits from SCRI-549 to acquire basic information on site chronology and the general nature of the midden constituents. Consequently, my field team and I excavated column samples from the walls of the gullies cut into the upper segment of the seacliff. Our collection of column samples was frustrated by the hardness of the dry, brittle clayey silt composing the soil matrix of both the midden strata and the sterile alluvial strata. Moreover, vertical columns or slabs of this soil were spalling from the gully walls (that is, the soil was argillic), some of which had to be removed before excavation could proceed.

The red abalone midden stratum, Stratum II, was easily accessible, and after creating a vertical face along a gully wall, one of the members of the field team excavated a 25 by 25 cm column in eight somewhat vague stratigraphic divisions. The other strata, however, were exposed in a narrow gully with a steeply sloping base. We had to excavate a flat area at the base of this gully with shovel and pick before work could begin. Midden strata III, IV, and V were excavated within a "window" cut into the gully wall to avoid having to excavate the sterile deposits above and below this set of strata. This entailed carving out midden soil from each stratum along a 65 cm breadth of the stratum to a depth of 10 cm from the gully wall inward. The height from the top of Stratum III to the base of Stratum IV was 54 cm. The basal midden stratum, Stratum VI, was exposed adjacent to the working platform at the base of the gully, so this was excavated as a 25 by 25 cm sample much in the manner that Stratum II was excavated.

As was the case at the other sites from which samples were collected, the field team collected data with a total station for a site map. We also scrutinized all the exposures of the red abalone midden, finding a stone mortar fragment and a cluster of two stone digging-stick weights.

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