Kalapuya Indians

From Lane Co Oregon

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Village Pattern

Archaeologists find three site types: low wet prairie (flood plain base camps), valley edge (hunting), and dry prairie (food processing; most subject to burning). The resources of each micro-environment prairie, marsh, deciduous forest, evergreen-deciduous woodland were within easy daily reach of inhabitants. The territory now known as Alton Baker Park was part of the range area. Its proximity to the river was ideal for fishing and food gathering.

Kalapuyans were seminomadic. Groups generally remained within a specific sub basin of the valley, moving on a seasonal round between winter villages and summer base camps. People congregated in large winter villages as soon as the flood waters began to rise, staying from mid-October to mid-March. Houses were pole structures with bark roofs surrounded by earthen banks; each held from four to ten families. During the remainder of the year, people divided into smaller bands to harvest food and hunt on the rich floodplains of the Willamette River. They did not build summer homes, but occasionally constructed windbreaks of fir boughs. Summer base camps were used for harvesting tasks and were frequently revisited over the centuries. From these locations winter villages or summer base camps smaller groups went to task-specific sites to exploit upland or lowland resources.

Stone tools were made of obsidian, CCS, basalt. (Rounded obsidian pieces and basalt could be found in the river.) Tools included points, knives, drills, scrapers, gravers, reamers, spokeshaves, hammerstones, choppers, anvils, scraper planes (used in woodworking), pestles, mortars, abraded stones, and small stone balls. Unusual tools included a crescent, edge ground cobble, notched stones. A wide variety of other tools and components were made of wood and sinew.

Winter was a time for story telling. Stories conveyed morals, beliefs, and world view to younger members of the band. Animals played a crucial role in Kalapuya life and mythology.

Kalapuyan sociopolitical structure was not at the tribe level; bands were not united under a single chief. Each village was autonomous with its own headman. The Kalapuya were a peaceful, non-warlike culture.

Bibliography

Aikens, C. Melvin., ed. Archaeological Studies in the Willamette Valley, Oregon. University of Oregon Anthropological Papers, No. 8, 1975.

Boyd, Robert, ed. Indians, Fire and the Land in the Pacific Northwest. Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press, 1999.

Beckham, Stephen Dow, Rick Minor, Kathryn Anne Toepel. Prehistory And History Of BLM Lands In West-Central Oregon : A Cultural Resource Overview. Eugene, Oregon : Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 1981.

Carter, Elizabeth, Michelle Dennis. Eugene Area Historic Context Statement. Eugene, Or.: The City, 1996.

Cheatham, Richard D. The Fern Ridge Lake Archaeological Project, Lane County, Oregon, 1982-1984. Report to the Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Eugene, Oregon: Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 1984.

Cheatham, Richard D. Late Archaic Settlement Pattern in the Long Tom Sub-Basin, Upper Willamette Valley, Oregon. Eugene, Oregon: Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 1988.

Forester, Thomas B., ed., et al. The Cultural and Historic Landscapes of Lane County, Oregon : Summary Report of the 1986 Cultural and Historic Landscape Resource Survey. Eugene, Or. : The Survey, 1986

Mackey, Harold. The Kalapuyans. Salem, Oregon: Mission Mill Museum Association, 1974.

Walling, A.G. Illustrated History of Lane County. Portland, Oregon: A. G. Walling, 1884.

White, John Robert. Prehistoric Sites of the Upper Willamette Valley: A Proposed Typology. Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon, 1974.