Ancient Stone Tools Unearthed in Washington

Archaeologists have discovered thousands of stone tools dating back 10,000 years or more in Redmond, Washington.

ANCIENT STONE TOOLS: An Unexpected Find

The discovery was made during an archaeological survey undergone in preparation for a construction project that began in 2009. The project site, near Redmond Town Mall, was intended to restore the salmon habitat conditions of Bear Creek, a tributary to the Sammamish River, by rechanneling the stream in a way that improved its conditions for both fish and people.

When construction crews initially began clearing the site in 2009, they found “an unremarkable assortment of artifacts near the surface.” But when they dug deeper, they found “a foot-thick layer of peat” that proved to be over 10,000 years old after radiocarbon analysis. Scattered throughout the impressively old dirt were over 4,000 stone tools, including spear points, awls, scrapers, and flakes. Chemical analysis of the tools shows that their owners were likely using them to eat “bison, deer, bear, sheep, and salmon.”

Archaeologists believe the peat layer is the remnant an ancient bog that was home to a community of people working with the tools. They are not the oldest stone tools ever found – those were discovered in northwestern Kenya and date back 3.3 million years – but these are the oldest stone tools found in the Puget Sound lowland area, and the discovery is certainly large and significant for archaeologists. These tools offer new insight into what the human population of Western Washington was doing at the close of the last ice age, the kind of information that could serve to fill other gaps in our knowledge of human history and evolution from prehistoric times.

Taking Care With Construction

The laws governing archaeological caution when undertaking construction projects can differ from state to state, but they aren’t particularly rigid. Construction contracts will often contain clauses requiring project managers to report seemingly significant findings to local authorities, but it’s really the responsibility of the builders to take findings like this seriously. Reporting archaeological finds can delay and even entirely derail construction projects and cost the builders money. But, it can also contribute to general knowledge of human history in a big way.

Archaeologists themselves are also constantly working to identify potential dig sites and to supervise, whether officially or unofficially, construction projects that might unearth important findings. Considering that this big discovery in Washington was pretty unexpected, that could really mean any and every construction site.

Who knows how many discoveries like this one are still out there, sitting deep underneath movie theaters and office complexes undiscovered.


HISTORY IS TOO PRECIOUS TO LOSE: