Downstream Stockton Assessments

Test excavations were completed at 7 archeological sites, including 23CE46C, 23CE439 (which included 23CE437 and 438), 23CE442 (which included 23CE443), 23CF444, 23CE446, 23SR291 and 23SR1067. This work was restricted. to Corps of Engineers flowage easements and may not have adequately tapped the potential of some sites. Excavations at 23CE440 could not be undertaken because landowner permission could not be obtained. Hand excavations included 1 m x 1 m and 1 m x 2 m test units, as well as shovel/posthole tests on sites with poor surface visibility. Controlled surface collecting or piece plotting was undertaken at sites with exposed surface deposits. Deep backhoe testing at 23CE439, 23CE442, 23CE444, 23CE446 and 23SR1067 revealed buried components at 23CE442, 23CE444 and 23SR1067. Our work failed to confirm the existence of cultural deposits at sites 23CE437, 23CE438 and 23CE443. Since previous investigators had recorded materials in these locations, it is possible that these sites have been destroyed by riverbank erosion or that the materials observed had been redeposited from elsewhere.