Archaeological Report
Harney County Oregon, Range Seeding Projects

The Shelly seeding project covers about 510 acres, or 204 hectares, of land .4 to 2.4 kilometers north of the Malhleur River and .2 to 1.7 kilometers east of Griffin Creek. The area consists of steep hills and ridges divided by fairly level floodplains of ephemeral drainages. Vegetation is predominantly sagebrush, with less than 10% of the area covered by juniper stands. Elevation ranges from just over 3700 feet to almost 4000 feet. There are no springs within the survey boundaries, but one unnamed spring occurs about 200 meters to the east.

This project was surveyed on November 14 and 15, 1979, by Botti, Fusby and Andrews. Three Lithic scatters were recorded, but one of the site reports is missing and no survey notes have been found. The existing information is derived from the two remaining site reports and a half-completed draft survey report.

The first site recorded occurs in an area of naturally occurring obsidian cobbles and appears to have been a primary reduction area. The site covers about .09 hectare at almost 3800 feet elevation. No tools were noted. The second site was a sparse scatter over .15 hectare at just less than 3800 feet elevation. Again, no tools were noted. Both of these sites were rated S-3. The third site is the one for which the site report is missing. It was apparently .9 hectare in extent at about the same elevation as the other two sites and was given an S-2 rating.