Heritage: 13,000 to 10,500 years ago

The First People: 13,000 to 10,500 years ago

Exactly when the first people arrived in the Blue Mountains, or North America for that matter, is unknown. The two oldest widely accepted dates for the start of human habitation in the new world are between 12,000 and 14,000 years ago for a site in Pennsylvania (Meadowcroft) and one in Chile (Monte Verde). Oregon is home to one controversial site, Fort Rock Cave, which may date to as early as 13,000 years ago. Certainly by 11,200 to 10,900 years ago native people were well distributed throughout North America as indicated by the number of known sites dating to this time. Many of these sites contain spear points of a distinctive style called Fluted Points. Fluted points have a groove running from the base towards the tip on one or both sides of the point. The groove is made by driving a single long, narrow flake from the base of the point. The classic examples of the fluted point are the Clovis (which provided the dates above) and the Folsom (which dates between 10,900 and 10,200 years ago). One fluted point has been found on the Emigrant Creek Ranger District, south of Bear Valley. Another has been reported, but not verified, for the John Day drainage northeast of John Day. The Dietz site, located southwest of the Malheur Forest, produced both fluted points and points from the Western Stemmed Point Tradition which dates from between 10,800 and 7,500 years ago. The fluted points found in this region are generally believed to date between 11,200 and 10,200 years ago but the nearest dated specimens are over 200 miles away in Washington (East Wenatchee).

The people who belonged to the Fluted Point Tradition are usually thought of as big game hunters, because of the association between Clovis and Folsom points with big game kill sites. Most of these sites are from the Plains and southwestern United States. The association between big game and fluted points is much less evident in the Great Basin and Columbia Plateau. As a matter of fact most Great Basin Fluted Point Tradition sites are located on or near lakes or marshes. It is very likely that these people were taking the abundant waterfowl, fish and water plants in addition to, or instead of, big game. The lack of reported fluted point sites in upland areas indicates that these areas were only sparsely used until the Holocene.