New insights on the Par-Tee (35CLT20) site: Collections-based research of northern Oregon Coast fisheries.

Museum-based archaeological research is multifaceted due to the diverse excavation histories, sampling strategies, curation practices, and available documentation for museum collections. Museum-based studies provide an opportunity to analyze previously excavated materials from sites that were historically destroyed or are no longer accessible for further research. In this paper, we present new insights into the ancient fishery of the Par-Tee site, a large shell midden from the northern Oregon coast. We analyzed fish remains from the Par-Tee museum collection and curated unprocessed sediment samples to gain further insights into the ancient fisheries of the site. We compare our findings to three neighboring sites on the northern Oregon coast. We demonstrate that the Par-Tee museum collection is rich in large-bodied predatory fishes and that the sediment samples contain small-bodied fishes likely captured through mass harvesting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]