Thursday March 11th 2021
starting at 6:30 with program at 7:00 PM
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By Dr. Gary Wessen,
Wesson and Associates, Inc., Port Townsend
This ZOOM presentation examines some existing ideas about the late precontact culture history of the northwestern Olympic Peninsula of Washington (see map, above). The area under consideration includes the coastal margins of the traditional territories of two neighboring groups: the Makah and Quileute peoples. For the most part, it consists of exposed, steep, rocky shorelines marked by numerous nearshore rocks and small islands (see photos). Low, sandy beaches occur in some places, but they are often small. Terrestrial surfaces farther inland are mostly steep and heavily forested. On the north, a few small coastal river valleys break up this pattern. Farther south, the much larger Quillayute and Hoh Rivers reach the ocean on relatively broad alluvial flats.