ABSTRACT
In February of 1985, the owner of property adjacent to the northern portion of Whale Cove approached the Oregon State University Department of Anthropology and requested those personnel inspect a “shell midden” located there. The site was visited in March 1985, recorded, and subsequently assigned an official state site number by the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office. Due to ongoing erosion of the site and planned land development, an agreement between the property owner and the Department was reached. Test excavations under the direction of the authors were conducted as part of the 1985 Oregon State University archaeology field school. Recovered artifacts were subsequently analyzed and are presently curated by the O.S.U. Department of Anthropology. Those artifacts were valued as equivalent to the cost of their recovery for the land owner’s tax purposes. This unprecedented (on the Oregon coast) program resulted in benefits for all involved parties.
