Oregon’s paleo-people perspective is a gift of insight into our State’s past.

Humans intuitively know what they see, UNDERSTAND and cherish; but we rarely understand or see Oregon’s past peoples.

Plus, we naturally only respect, love or cherish or protect only what we comprehend or understand.
The notion of mammoth hunters in Oregon seems outlandish.

Moreover, Oregon State is going through tough times right now; but not as tough as it has been for all our forefathers. Politically, I’d recommend voting in seasoned politicians like John Kitzhaber for Governor; as he has seen & he has handled these state political troubles before. We don’t need a basketball player, undoubtedly well intentioned, just learning about the State of Oregon and its peoples now for Governor.

It is Official!  Mammoth hunters did not eat all the Mammoths.

Climate change wiped out woolly mammoths
Mass extinction of large mammals hotly debated for more than 100 years
By Charles Q. Choi, LIVESCIENCE

updated 8:40 a.m. PT, Mon., May 24, 2010

Mighty swings in climate played a major role in causing mass extinctions of mammals, such as woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats, in the last 50,000 years, researchers now suggest.

Between 50,000 and 3,000 years ago, 65 percent of mammal species weighing over 97 pounds (44 kg) went extinct, together with a lesser fraction of small mammals.
"Why these species became extinct in such large numbers has been hotly debated for over a century," said researcher David Nogues-Bravo, a geographer at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Fifty thousand years ago, global climate began getting colder and drier, reaching full glacial conditions 21,000 years before the present. Since then, the climate has warmed up, creating new opportunities for people to colonize the planet.

An international team of scientists peering closer at these swings now suggests the greater the climate swing a locale experienced, the higher the extinction rates they saw.

"Until now global evidence to support the climate change argument has been lacking," Nogues-Bravo said.

The challenge was that with past evidence scientists had to untangle the impact human arrival might have had, as well as pin down the actual mass extinction rates and when extinctions and climate changes really happened."

One of the best books out there to comprehend the Paleo-People or prehistoric lives is through their individual art. The book, INDIAN ROCK ART OF THE COLUMBIA PLATEAU BY James D. Keyser is a good start.
On page 13, Keyser’s Introduction explains:

“Despite this long history of scientific interest in Columbia Plateau rock art, the public remains relatively unaware of these paintings…More serious, however, is that current residents of and visitors to the Pacific Northwest miss the opportunity of understanding and appreciating rock art as a part of our region’s rich cultural heritage. This has led to the defacement (and even the destruction) of some sites by unthinking vandals who obliterate the original art with spray-paint scrawls.

Thus, my purpose in writing this book is to help interested persons understand the age, meaning, and function of this art. I hope that this will lead to public appreciation of and concern for these irreplaceable art treasures of our past.”

Deschutes National Forest offices, around Bend, OR, have an interesting handout titled “TRACES OF THE FIRST PEOPLES IN CENTRAL OREGON.

“The earth beneath them lurched suddenly with a dooms day roar. Then a blinding fury rushed across the land. Volcanic cinders and ash hailed down, pounding them to their knees. Gasping for breath, lungs tortured, their final cries were lost in the devilish torrent.”

This paragraph tries to describe what it must have been like for people living near tranquil, forested Mount Mazama (now called Crater Lake National Park) during it's eruption around 7,600 years ago or roughly 5,600 B.C.

“We do know that sometime between 4000 and 2000 years ago hunter-gatherer tribes resumed their visits to the High Cascade lakes….From tiny chippings to complete artifacts, every bit of prehistoric evidence helps archaeologists piece together the past. The relative position of each item is critically important, but this information is lost forever when archaeological sites are plundered and materials taken.”

Archaeologists are trained to make sense of prehistoric clues and they document their finding for all today and in future generations to understand our prehistoric people’s lives.

Oregon is largely unplundered due to the vastness of our terrain; and when I discover some interesting “antiquities site” during back country travels – let local government people know so someone professional can check out the site.

We are still looking for unplundered mammoth hunter sites –most are buried under time and soil.

The opening photo shows Paleo-Indian art of what appears to be a red drawing of an elephant; but elephants probably died off at least 12,000 years ago!

Can you imagine what these people’s lives were like? Well, we don’t have to strain to imagine – if archaeologists can interpret these artifacts for us.

Help us find AND protect ancient historical sites or Oregonian’s Heritage Sites for present and future generations.#####

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