Fields Oregon & Alvord Desert Field Trip with Scott Thomas
Recently, Archaeologist Scott Thomas of the BLM led ASCO members to a marvelous rock art site and two extensive paleo camp sites in the hills and desert near Fields, Oregon. The following images and descriptions courtesy of Mary Webster:
The Pueblo Mountains, where BLM archaeologist Scott Thomas led us, were extremely beautiful - green hillsides with lots and lots of wildflowers
Phlox was present in white, pink, and lavender varieties. There was also an abundance of Larkspur and Wild Roses scattered throughout the hills and gullies.
Scott, on the right, was very patient with all our questions, as usual. First he took us to a remote petroglyph site. The images depicted are from 7,600 to 1,000 years old.
Scott was surprised when we discovered that two of the glyphs were in the shape of fish. This could support the idea that there was once water flowing through near the site.
The mammoth image is incredibly rare and the BLM is excited to have one in their jurisdiction.
Later that day, we visited a site only a few miles from the petroglyphs where ranch hands had begun building a fence and noticed several artifacts on the surface. They stopped work on the fence and contacted the BLM office. To survey this site, ASCO members spread out in a line and walked the area, calling an archaeologist over to us whenever we found an item of diagnostic importance, like an arrowhead, a spear point, a knife or a scraper. The number of items we found indicated that the site should be explored further by scientists.
The find of the day was a complete Spear Point made from Moss Agate - so beautiful!!!
The next day, out on the Alvord Desert, we did a similar survey of a known site.Here we are “in line” awaiting further instructions before starting.
At one point, Scott spotted a man with a bucket and drove over to talk with him. He told Scott he was “collecting rocks” and asked what our group was doing. Scott replied that we too were “collecting rocks.”
The Steens mountains from the SE side. | | We found two leopard lizards and 2 gopher snakes, but luckily no rattlesnakes, which surprised Scott. |
A wash, an Alkali mud pattern, and Alkali patches on top of dried mud in the Alvord Desert. Tracks of a bird, a deer, and a coyote were also found in the hardened mud.
Submitted by Mary Webster & Stephanie Marks
