Rimrock Draw Rockshelter and modern archaeology

BURNS โ€“ Burns BLM District Archaeologist Dr. Pat Oโ€™Grady was on KJDYโ€™s Coffee Time Thursday with host Logan Bagett and discussed the Rimrock Draw Rockshelter archaeological site in Harney County.

Dr. Oโ€™Grady reminded listeners that stone tools and bone fragments of Ice Age mammals were found at the site, dating back longer than 18,000 years before present. He said modern technology allows data to be gathered in a manner that causes little disturbance to the site:

โ€œWe can do more with a cubic foot of dirt in an archaeological site in terms of chemistry, environmental D.N.A, identification of different kinds of plant remainsโ€ฆall sorts of those studies that can be done on a small sample of sediment. In the decades past, it would take maximum amounts of excavation and removal to get any results at all.

We can work at these sites and get important information, and then be able to preserve portions of the siteโ€ฆโ€

Listen to the full podcast with Dr. Oโ€™Grady below: