For years, Islanders have heard stories about a stone anchor and stone circles on Turtleback Mountain, but very few have actually seen them.
Archeologist Gary Wessen is someone who has. He will be speaking Sunday evening October 3rd at the Senior Center at 7 p.m. His topic will be, “The Stone Anchor and Other Rock Features on Turtleback.”
His archeological study in 2007 investigated and identified such varied rock features as anchors, circles, cairns, and a large boulder with the word “Hull” on it. He will describe these features, address what is known about their histories, and give his thoughts and ideas suggested by others as to their possible significances.
Gary has a Doctorate in Anthropology from Washington State University. The majority of his fieldwork and research activities have addressed coastal forest settings in western Washington—Puget Sound Basin and Olympic Peninsula. In 1985 he conducted a county-wide inventory of the recorded archeological sites of San Juan County, so is well-versed on our island’s Native American and early settler artifacts.
This event is sponsored by the Orcas Island Historical Museum. Admission by donation.
NOTE: This talk is in no way meant to encourage people to disregard the San Juan Preservation Trust guidelines to stay on the trails on Turtleback Mountain!
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I don’t know if this is of any interest to your speaker, but, when I lived in the little cabin on Steve Braun’s property some years ago… very shortly before he passed away, he showed me some bones imbedded in the midden, and asked me to protect them as he was unsure if they might be human. I never had the opportunity to share this with anyone, and this seems an appropriate forum to do so now.
I currently live in Seattle and will not be attending the talk. Should you wish to,feel free to contact me for more information via my email address: marincarroll@yahoo.com
marin,
i’m confused. why wait years to reveal this information about a madrona point midden now?
wouldn’t this information need to be turned over to the lummi and/or co-salish tribes, for them to decide if or how to extract the bones, should they turn out to be human? they had middens all over madrona point. it’s possible that bones found in middens are under their jurisdiction, even if on “private” property.