News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
People have been camping out at Suttle Lake for a long time -- a really long time.
Sisters Ranger District Archeologist Don Zettel led a crew of diggers in an archeological exploration of the area last week and found evidence that people had camped there at least 1,300 years ago and possibly as far back as the Ice Age.
The dig was organized as work begins on remodeling the Suttle Lake Resort. The Forest Service routinely studies such work areas to make sure no knowledge of the past is lost due to construction.
Zettel and his crew, including many volunteers from the Archaeological Society of Central Oregon, dug down to glacial soils that date to the Ice Age, noting where tools and artifacts lay in relation to the layers of soil.
That is how archaeologists estimate the time of human activity.
"That was our main goal, to get a really good look at where artifacts were found in relation to the soil topography," Zettel said. "What we found was that there were artifacts all the way down to the glacial deposits."
That means there may have been people camping and hunting and fishing in the Suttle Lake area as long as 10,000 years ago.
Diggers found lots of obsidian flakes that indicate people spent time making tools. They also found a stone grinder that is evidence of food preparation.
It is hard for archaeologists to narrow down the time frame for the artifacts they discover in the area because it is hard to pin down the exact time of volcanic eruptions that left distinct layers of soil behind.
For example, an eruption at Blue Lake that left a layer of cinders in the soil may have occurred 3,800 years ago -- or it may have been as recent as 1,300 years ago. So any tools found below that cinder layer may be more than 3,800 years old -- or they may be more recent. Geologists work continually to refine their time estimates for local volcanic activity.
Zettel said archaeologists are still trying to determine what kind of activities went on at Suttle Lake in prehistoric times.
"That's part of the picture that we're still trying to put together," Zettel said.
The Sisters archaeologist believes the site was a seasonal camping place where hunters and gatherers came following the game that moved to higher elevations in warm weather and following the salmon to the lake.
The Forest Service is through digging on the spot; their mission of ensuring that knowledge is preserved has been fulfilled.
But Zettel thinks the area still holds treasures for scholars studying ancient activities on the eastern slopes of the Cascades.
"It'd be a great site for a college to do a field school," Zettel said.
But whether visitors come as scholars digging into the past or as holiday campers seeking summer recreation, those who pitch their tents at Suttle Lake are camping on sites that have been used since time immemorial.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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