Behind the Scenes--Geology of the Site: Full report on the geoarchaeological data and research objectives

Stafford presents in this document an argument for additional testing, in this case archaeological excavations of the area of the Columbia River floodplain immediately adjacent to where the remains of Kennewick Man were discovered. He and others submitted, on August 26, 1997, an application to the Walla Walla District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for an ARPA permit to authorize study of the site where the Kennewick Man skeleton was found (hereafter, the "Site"). The permit application sought permission to conduct a multidisciplinary investigation of the site to gather data for evaluating the contextual framework of the Kennewick Man discovery locality. As of the date of this document, the requested ARPA permit was not issued.

In this document, Stafford discusses whether or not test excavation of the site is still needed to resolve the research objectives set out in the August 1997 permit application. Stafford is one of the co-authors of one of the preliminary geoarchaeological investigations done at the same location. This study is available as tDAR 371590. Another geoarchaeological, geological, and historical report also is available for the Kennewick Man discovery area, Wakeley et al. (tDAR 374888).