Marmes Rockshelter: A Final Report on 11,000 Years of Cultural Use - Softcover

The excavation was never completed. In spite of efforts to hold back the flooding, by early 1969, the Marmes Rockshelter was underwater and no longer available for examination. Many of the secrets lost there may never be revealed; however, in terms of both archaeological results—a human and environmental record beginning in early Holocene times—and political impact, it remains a true breakthrough. Senator Warren G. Magnuson described the site as "a landmark precedent in our nation’s responsibility to its own heritage, which will be felt for decades to come."

More than thirty years after the Marmes site was excavated, the mandate to preserve archaeological materials and information has now led full-circle to the publication of "Marmes Rockshelter: A Final Report on 11,000 Years of Cultural Use," a complete analysis and interpretation of all of the available information from the site’s rockshelter and floodplain areas. Generously illustrated, the volume includes details on the project’s background, research design, environmental overview, cultural context, stratigraphy and site formation processes, features, remains, lithic debitage, tools, and materials, along with a summary of the results.