Second in a two-part series. The first article appeared Sunday.
The only certainty is uncertainty when it comes to stumbling across archaeological finds during development projects.
“You’re never going to be able to remove the element of surprise completely,” said Alysson Brooks, director of the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.
In 2004, the state Department of Transportation canceled the Hood Canal Bridge graving yard project in Port Angeles after excavation uncovered an ancient Klallam village.
Archaeologists are now sifting earth for Native American remains at Beckett Point on Discovery Bay, while a $2.8 million septic system completion is idled.
And work was halted briefly on the Port Angeles International Gateway Transportation Center project in downtown Port Angeles last week until it was determined that a bone found there was not of archeological interest.
Brooks said that a strategy is in place for handling “inadvertent discoveries” at development sites.
“We actually have a plan, not people running around disorganized asking, ‘What shall we do?’
“If we see an area that has a high probability or medium probability of having cultural resources, we ask for a survey.”
The breadth and depth of each survey depends on the individual site, Brooks said.
Some could be surveyed with a shovel, Brooks said.
Others might need satellite imaging, magnetrometry or ground-penetrating radar.
State Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, said cleanups on Hood Canal and Puget Sound would spawn more projects that are likely to uncover remains and artifacts.
For now, though, the North Olympic Peninsula is the state’s hot spot for the issue.
“It seems like we’re the fall guys,” Kessler said, “but this isn’t going to be limited to Clallam and Jefferson counties,” which her 24th district includes.
Brooks said agencies might have taken a “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach in the past, but that such an attitude is no longer acceptable – if only because of the bottom line.
