REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 14 (UPI) -- When real estate developers call in a team of archaeologists to survey the land prior to breaking ground, they're hoping for a routine ho-hum report.
That's not what they got at a planned mall construction site near Redmond, Washington. Instead, archaeologists uncovered a plethora of ancient stone tools used by America's earliest inhabitants.
"We were pretty amazed," Robert Kopperl, lead archaeologist on the dig, told The Seattle Times. "This is the oldest archaeological site in the Puget Sound lowland with stone tools."
Among the recovered artifacts were thousands of stone flakes, the byproduct of stone tool making, as well as scrapers, awls and spear points. Spear points were used for hunting, while scrapers and awls were used for processing animal hides.
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Researchers estimate the tools are 10,000 years old. Tests also revealed the remnants of prey on several tools. The diet of these early peoples included bison, bear, deer, sheep and salmon.
The site sits near Bear Creek, a tributary of the Sammamish River. Scientists say it was an ideal place to establish settlements, and to hunt and fish.
The findings suggest the area featured a more diverse and expensive presence of early native peoples than previously thought. The settlement may offer scientists a new understanding of what's known as the late Pleistocene-Holocene transition.
"Where Bear Creek fits into this complexity is a major focus of our research," scientists wrote in a new paper on their findings, published earlier this summer in the journal PaleoAmerica.
"Presently, we can say that the Bear Creek assemblage is broadly similar to other regional LPH traditions, but differing in detail," the scientists wrote. "Upon completion of our currently ongoing analyses, the site will contribute significantly to our knowledge of the range of LPH technological traditions and human-environmental interactions in the region."
Previously, the region had been lacking in evidence of early Americans. Only the remains of ancient animals had been found nearby.
"It's hard to find this kind of site west of the Cascades, because it's so heavily vegetated and the Puget Lobe of the big ice sheet really affected the landscape," Kopperl said.
