41
III. RADIOCARBON DATE FROM THE POINT ST. GEORGE SITE
NORTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA
Richard A. Gould
A radiocarbon date of 2260 + 210 years B.P. or 310 B.C. from the Point
St. George I occupation at the Point St. George Site, Del Norte County,
California, indicates the earliest evidence of human habitation so far dis-
covered along the northwestern California-southern Oregon coast.
In 1964 a field party from the University of California at Berkeley
carried out excavations at the Point St. George Site (CA-DNo-ll) in Del
Norte County, California. The published report on this site (Gould, 1966)
described the stratification and cultural materials found there but did not
include any radiocarbon measurements. Nevertheless, charcoal samples were
collected during these excavations, and the results are now available.
In the original report, two natural units containing cultural material
were distinguished. The upper one consisted of shell-midden deposits with
stone projectile points, bone needles, stone net-sinkers, and a wide variety
of distinctive artifacts comprising an assemblage resembling that of the
ethnographic Tolowa Indians of this region. This proto-historic midden
layer was labelled Feature 31, and the cultural materials it contained were
treated as the Point St. George II occupation. Underlying this midden de-
posit in Trench 3 at the site was a layer of smooth, dark brown sand (Feature
36) varying from about two to four feet in thickness and containing chipped
stone projectile points and other artifacts differing considerably in style
from those occurring in the midden levels. This earlier occupation was des-
ignated as Point St. George I. Underlying the Feature 36 soil there was
sterile, light yellow sand called Feature 32 in the report. This sand under-
lay the other trenches at the site, too, although it varied in texture and
compactness.
In 1964 five charcoal samples were collected from a series of small
hearths at the site. One of these occurred in the Feature 31 - Point St.
George II levels and was not processed because of the obviously proto-historic
character of the associated materials. The other four samples came from
different levels and squares within the Feature 36 - Point St. George I
occupation. Two of these samples were discarded because of their extremely
small size, while the other two were combined to make a single sample for pro-
cessing. The combined sample consisted of charcoal and charcoal-rich sand from
a pair of small, rather indistinct hearths in Square No. 52, Trench 3 at depths
of 42 and 45 inches, that is, in the lowest foot of the Feature 36 deposit.
This sample from these two hearths weighed 2.4 grams (after cleaning).
The sample (No. 1-4006) was processed by Isotopes, Inc. of Westwood, New
Jersey, in January, 1969, and yielded a date in years (B.P.) of 2260 + 210 or
310 B.C.
42
The Feature 36 soil from which this sample was taken was entirely free of
root contamination, and the hearths occurred in close association with stone
artifacts which were typical of the Point St. George I assemblage.    This soil
appears to consist of sand (Feature 32) mixed with fine particles of charcoal
and other organic materials which give it a distinct dark coloring.    The dif-
fuse nature of the hearths in this soil horizon is evidence for disturbance by
wind during and after the Point St. George I occupation. Today the entire
surface of Point St. George is subjected to strong northwesterly and south-
easterly winds which have created several large, sandy blowouts and have pre-
vented the growth of trees anywhere on the Point except in a few small swales.
Geologically, the Feature 32 sand (and the Feature 36 soil, which is a deriva-
tive of this sand) is part of the Battery Formation, "A thin marine-terrace
capping of unconsolidated sands exposed over the southern portion of the Cres-
cent City platform," (Maxson 1933:136).
On the basis of fossil shells and geological positioning, both Maxson
(1933:136) and Back (1957:24) regard the Battery Formation as a Pleistocene
deposit.  Back has commented:
"The Pleistocene age of the Battery Formation seems to be well
established, but its position within the Pleistocene is not
clearly indicated. The horizontal attitude, low degree of
induration, and Recent aspect of the fauna identified by Hert-
lein suggest a late Pleistocene age for these deposits." (1957:24).
Battery Formation sands covers the entire- surface of Point St. George except
for a small exposure of Point St. George Formation beds (Pliocene) on the north
side of the Point (about 200 yards beyond the nearest excavations) and the head-
land of undifferentiated rocks exposed along the west and southwest sides of
the Point.
As summarized by Heizer (1964:132-133), there are radiocarbon dates for
site Cs-23 on the lower Coquille River, Oregon, and the base of the Gunther
Island site (Hum-67) at Humboldt Bay, California, of 350 years and 1050 years,
respectively. There is an estimated date of 1620 A.D. for the Tsurai site
(Hum-169) at Trinidad Bay, California...and further north along the Oregon coast
there are three radiocarbon dates from site Ti-l of 150, 280, and 500 years.
More recently, there is a radiocarbon date of about 1310 A.D. for the early
levels of Hum-118, a site excavated at Patrick's Point, California (Elsasser
and Heizer, 1966:103). A comparison of artifact assemblages shows there are
close resemblances between the materials from Gunther Island (Loud, 1918;
Heizer and Elsasser, 1964), Patrick's Point, and Tsurai (Heizer and Mills, 1952)
and the Point St. George II occupation. Comparative as well as stratigraphic
evidence supports the idea of a relatively late date for Point St. George II.
Thus the radiocarbon date for the Point St. George I occupation is the
earliest date so far obtained for archaeological remains from the southern Oregon
and northwestern California coast by at least 1000 years. Elsasser and Heizer
43
have stated:
"It has been suggested, though without much evidence to
support the proposition, that the northwestern coast of
California was the last area of the state to be permanently
settled.  This may be true, but it may also be wrong.
(Elsasser and Heizer, 1966:2).
The question now is: does the Point St. George I occupation and its associated
date of 310 B.C. represent the earliest human habitation of this coastal region?
Elsasser and Heizer have rightly cautioned against relying too heavily on
negative evidence. Before starting excavations in Del Norte County I was
able to examine several large surface collections of artifacts from sites on
the coast between Klamath, California, and Pistol River, Oregon (Gould, 1965)
and in 1965 I also examined surface collections of artifacts from the Oregon
and northern California coast presently housed at the American Museum of
Natural History. Out of the roughly 600 artifacts (mainly chipped stone pro-
jectile points) in these collections, there were none present that did not
seem to belong to assemblages related to either the Point St. George I or II
occupations.  In other words, despite fairly intensive excavations, surface
surveys, and studies of surface collections by myself and other investigators,
there as yet exists no unambiguous evidence for human habitation of the north-
western California or southern Oregon coast prior to the Point St. George I
occupation. Two ways to test this hypothesis are to continue archaeological
surveys and excavation in this region either until more ancient material is
found or the probabilities of finding such material become diminishingly
small.
Another approach to this problem would be detailed geological studies
of the coastal terraces of this region with the aim of determining the earl-
iest date when the coastline would have been suitable for human habitation.
Present geological studies indicate that the marine terrace which includes
Point St. George (the Crescent City platform) was partially submerged during
the late Pleistocene. Since that time there has been a series of at least
three uplifts which extended and diverted the course of the Smith River and
lowered the sea-level in relation to the land surface of the Crescent City
platform (Back, 1957:36-37). Terraces indicative of these uplifts are visible
along the Smith River at Hiouchi Valley about 5 miles inland and along the
lower reaches of the river (the most recent being the Fort Dick terrace)
above the present flood-plain (Back, 1957:37).   However, no attempt has been
made yet to date these uplifts in terms of years.
On the basis of the materials collected so far and the radiocarbon date,
more archaeological excavations are needed to determine the nature and extent
of the Point St. George I occupation at the Point St. George Site. Moreover,
it is also recommended that additional samples be obtained for radiocarbon
dating.
44
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Back, W.
1957
Geology and Ground-Water Features of the Smith River Plain, Del
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Christensen, M. N.
1966 Quaternary of the California Coast Ranges.
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Geological Survey Bulletin No. 190:305-314,
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Division of Mines and
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Elsasser, A. B. and R. F. Heizer
1966 Excavation of Two Northwestern California Coastal Sites. Reports
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Gould, R. A.
1965 Description and Analysis of Surface Collection. In An Introduction
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Berkeley, pp. 36-57, Figs.9-31, 70-71.
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Heizer, R. F. and J. E. Mills
1952 The Four Ages of Tsurai. Univ. of Calif. Press, Berkeley.
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Maxson, J. H.
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