English Camp Excavation at Garrison Bay

American Camp Vicinity

San Juan Island Archaeological Project - Washington

Using artifacts and other material remains from excavations by Stein and by archaeologists working in the 1960s and 1970s, this project seeks to explain the occupational and subsistence history of the San Juan Islands, Washington. Special emphasis has been places on understanding the formational processes of shell middens in this coastal area, especially the relationship to tectonics, sea level, chronology, and sediment chemistry. This work has been funded since 1983 by various funding opportunities at the University of Washington, as well as by the National Park Service. This project has provided numerous students from the University of Washington, University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University with material for theses.

In recent years other sites have been compared to the excavated materials extracted from English and American Camp on San Juan Island. A research program emphasizing dating focuses on understanding accumulation rates and correction of radiocarbon dates based on marine shell.

English Camp Excavation