Archeological Excavations at the Wanapum Cache Site

This report was prepared to document the actions taken to locate and excavate an abandoned Wanapum cache located east of the 100-H Reactor area. Evidence (i.e., glass, ceramics, metal, and wood) obtained from shovel and backhoe excavations at the Wanapum cache site indicate that the storage caches were found. The highly fragmented condition of these materials argues that the contents of the caches were collected or destroyed prior to the caches being burned and buried by mechanical equipment. While the fiber nets would have been destroyed by fire, the specialized stone weights would have remained behind. The fact that the site might have been gleaned of desirable artifacts prior to its demolition is consistent with the account by Riddell (1948) for a contemporary village site. Unfortunately, fishing equipment, owned by and used on behalf of the village, that might have returned to productive use has been irretrievably lost.