Bird Remains from an Oregon Indian Midden

Abstract

The Five Mile Rapids Site (WS-4) represents an early Indian village that was seemingly occupied continuously for a great many years and was later covered over by a hard-pan stratum several feet in thickness. Above this hard-pan subsequent fill and changes in culture are indicated. The bird remains are all from the lower deposit and the second shipment all from the part later designated as the condor layer. Dr. Cressman and his advisers consider the age to be at least 9000 years. Carbon-14 tests have lately been completed that indicate slightly less than 8000 years. The site is situated in what is today designated as the Great Basin fauna1 area. The specimens came to me in packages representing sections and levels as they were retrieved in the "dig." A package might contain one fragment or it might contain fifty. The material from each package was spread out upon a tray, classified, recorded and returned to its container. There were 51 packages in the first shipment of 3000 bones and 69 packages in the second of 6000 bones. Except for fracture, the bones are well preserved, colored warm brown and somewhat mineralized. Heated in the Bunsen burner flame they gave off some white smoke but very little odor. Surface markings were as sharply defined as in a freshly prepared specimen, although seldom was an unbroken bone encountered. DISCUSSION Approximately nine thousand bones were identified as to genus or species and there developed some interesting "pictures of the past." Surprisingly few species were represented with any degree of frequency. Gull (Larus sp.) bones were in every sizable package and usually in quantity. Cormorants (Ph&zcrocorax) occurred in 89 packages, and 105 contained Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). The next species in abundance, to my surprise was the California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) which appeared in 53 packages. Only two bones were recognized as duck and seven as goose. Twelve packages yielded the Raven (Corvus corax), twelve the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) and five a magpie (Pica). One bone was that of a coot (Fulica americana) and one a buteonid hawk, and most surprising of all, there was a single bone of the extinct vulture Coragyps occidentalis.

Coming to Terms About Describing Golden Eagle Reproduction

“…Fossilized bones from bald eagles have been found in California, Oregon, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Florida at sites dating back to the Pleistocene (Howard 1932:45). Direct evidence of the prehistoric occurrence of the species in Oregon comes from 29,000±-year-old (latePleistocene) fossils collected at Fossil Lake in Christmas Lake Valley (Shufeldt 1913, Howard 1946, Allison 1966, remains collected at an ~8,000-year-old midden along the Columbia River near The Dalles, OR (Miller 1957), and 5,000-6,000-year-old bones excavated from an archeological site at Lower Klamath Lake in northern California (Grayson 1976). At the Columbia River site, bald eagles were the second most abundant species represented in bone samples; gulls (Larus sp.)…”

“…At the Columbia River site, bald eagles were the second most abundant species represented in bone samples; gulls (Larus sp.) were first and California condors (Gymnogyps californianus) were third (Miller 1957).…”

A 14,000-year-old genome sheds light on the evolution and extinction of a Pleistocene vulture

“…There is only one Holocene find of occidentalis –a single specimen identified among the c. 9000 bird bones collected at a Paleo-Indian settlement in Oregon dating to c. 8000–9000 B.P. 35 , 36 . In the absence of more paleontological data from the Andean region, it is unknown whether the Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene extinction of occidentalis was synchronous throughout its distribution.…”

Species Identification of Golden and Bald Eagle Talons Using Morphometrics

“…The body parts of eagles and other raptors are valued in many cultures as spiritual talismans, a practice that extends as far back as Neanderthal times (Romandini et al 2014). In North America, Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) are the largest and most powerful avian predators, and their remains are often recovered at human archaeological sites (Bald Eagle: Howard 1929, Miller 1957Golden Eagle: Parmalee 1980, Emslie 1981both species: Parmalee 1958, McKusick 2001, Daily 2011. In the United States today, Bald and Golden eagles are among the species most frequently seen in the illegal wildlife trade, their feathers, talons, and other body parts incorporated into regalia, jewelry, and other items (Nelson 1982, DeMeo 1994, Miller 2002.…”