Archaeological Report
Harney County Oregon, Range Seeding Projects

The greatest factor hampering systematic analysis of this project is the lack of an explicit research design. The implicit goal was to identify cultural resources that might be impacted by the proposed seeding projects and avoid impact to those considered highly significant. This approach was worked out in consultation with the State Historic Preservation Officer's (SHPO) office, the BLM State Office archeologist and the Burns District Office management. While adherence to the implicit project goal satisfies the requirements of 36 CFR 800, it contributes little to our understanding of the regional prehistory or management of the cultural resources in the area. With only a slightly greater effort and a little forethought, much more useful information could have been generated.

In most cases, little or no background research was conducted prior to the on-the-ground surveys. In each instance, the surveys were conducted by walking parallel transects spaced approximately sixty meters apart, with divergences based on intuitive assessment of "potential" or "likely" areas. When cultural resources were encountered they were either recorded on the spot or flagged for later recordation depending on the nature of the resources encountered and other circumstances of a practical nature. In most cases no artifacts were collected, but most of the tools observed were drawn in the field and photographed.

An attempt was made prior to the surveys to come up with some minimal site definition for lithic scatters. Petroglyphs/pictographs, architectural features, or similar cultural manifestations were assumed to be sites, while the minimal site definition created an artificial level at which diffuse cultural materials would no longer be considered a site. The definition adopted required that ten or more culturally-modified lithic fragments (i.e., flakes or tools) be present in an area of 100 square meters or less. An exception was cited for five to ten flakes of the same material found in ten to 25 square meters. While this is an admirable attempt to solve a difficult question, it is not able to deal with large diffuse scatters that may have definable boundaries or sites in which the majority of material is buried. That the people conducting the survey felt a need to modify it with a particular type of exception is indicative of the weakness of the original definition. The working definition did not hamper the effectiveness of these surveys to identify potential National Register sites because the materials excluded from consideration as sites would not be considered highly significant; or else they would be largely subsurface and in no danger of disturbance from the proposed activity.

Sites were evaluated according to BLM's Cultural Resource Evaluation System (CRES) and assigned a significance rating, from S-l to S-4. S-l sites are those thought to be eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), S-2 sites are those not quite so significant but of potential local significance, S-3 sites are of low significance, and S-4 sites show no physical remains in the field. These evaluations were made purely on surface indications. For this project, surface evidence is an appropriate means of evaluation, since the surface disturbance from rangeland drill seeding will only extend a few centimeters deep. For more destructive land-altering projects, subsurface testing may be necessary, in some cases, to fully evaluate a site.

Both sites and isolated artifacts were generally recorded on BLM site recordation forms, except in the early stages of the project when Oregon Archeological Survey forms were used. Artifact illustrations (both photographic and sketched) and site sketch maps are included in most cases, and a site location map is included with each report.