Hoko River Archaeological Site Complex

Three millenia ago, Native Americans on Washington's Olympic Peninsula occupied a key seasonal fishing camp on a bar of the Hoko River, close to the south shore of the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Over the centuries, these ocean-oriented peoples discarded cordage, basketry, bent-wood fishhooks, woodworking tools, faunal and floral remains, and other cultural materials into a bend of the Hoko River. These perishable items were remarkably preserved in wet, low-oxygen deposits.From 1977 to 1989, archaeologists under the direction of Dr. Dale R. Croes excavated these deposits, as well as the nearby habitation sites. Altogether nearly 5,000 artifacts were recovered. Today, this project is recognized as one of the important "wet" archaeological sites in the Pacific Northwest were hydraulic excavation techniques were developed and effectively utilized. Croes's analysis is a valuable contribution to the archaeological and anthropological literature of the Olympic Peninsula and the Northwest Coast cultural area. The study also includes comparisons with other Northwest "wet" sites, particularly the mud-slide buried Ozette longhouses on the outer Olympic Peninsula.