The Marymoor Prehistoric Indian Site is the site of an archaeological dig in

Marymoor Park Marymoor Park, located on the north end of Lake Sammamish in Redmond, Washington, is King County's largest, oldest, and most popular park, with more than 3 million annual visitors coming to roam its . Among recreational activities available are ...

, Redmond,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. After King County bought the property in 1962, the site was one of four sites in the park considered for excavation. The dig began in 1964, and continued for four years. The dig revealed two separate periods of occupation of the site, which is adjacent to the

Sammamish River The Sammamish River (also known as Sammamish Slough) flows through north King County, Washington for about , draining Lake Sammamish into Lake Washington. Along its course, the Sammamish River flows through Redmond, Woodinville, Bothell, and ...

. The first period was around 4,000 B.C.E., and is thought to have been a seasonal camp. In this layer, researchers found stone tools, including spear/arrow points. The second period of occupation was around 1,000 BCE, and appears to have been a more permanent camp. The stone tools found in this layer are from a more varied array of stone than the basalt of the older layer. Much of the stone had to have been traded from the Eastern side of the

Cascade Mountains The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, a ...

, as they do not occur naturally on the Western side. Many of the items were exhibited in the Marymoor Museum, which was at the park until King County evicted it 2002. Other items were sent to the

Burke Museum The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (Burke Museum) is a natural history museum in Seattle, Washington, in the United States. Established in 1899 as the Washington State Museum, it traces its origins to a high school naturalist club fo ...

at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

Redmond Town Center site

In 2008, during a routine archaeological survey conducted as part of a stream restoration project, stone artifacts were discovered at Bear Creek, between Marymoor Park and nearby Redmond Town Center shopping mall. In 2009–2014, more artifacts were discovered beneath a layer of peat, including stone flakes, scrapers, awls and spear points. An announcement was made in 2015 that they were the oldest stone tools discovered in Western Washington, after the peat was determined by

Carbon-14 dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was d ...

to have been deposited 10,000 years ago.

References

Archaeological sites in Washington (state) Native American history of Washington (state) History of King County, Washington National Register of Historic Places in King County, Washington Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Redmond, Washington {{Washington-NRHP-stub