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SOU protects keys to past Photo by Bob Pennell Archaeologist Kate Winthrop shows an Indian arrowhead that is part of an extensive BLM collection housed at Southern Oregon University. Fireproof cabinets hold region's archaeological treasures By PAUL FATTIG ASHLAND -- The stone Kate Winthrop holds in her hand wouldn't mean much to most of us. It's a piece of dull brown rock, something you'd probably just kick aside. But to Winthrop, archaeologist for the Bureau of Land Management's Medford District, the stone is one of the keys to unlocking the mysteries of the distant past in what is now Southern Oregon. "This is a spear point from Stratton Creek," she said of a site along the Rogue River more than a dozen miles downstream from Grants Pass. "It's serrated, made from a material not easily worked. "My guess is we're looking at some of the very first efforts of people in this area to make tools," she said as she slowly turned it over in her hand. "They made this before they found the really good sites of chert and jasper used later on." The spear point is among the historic and prehistoric artifacts from throughout the district that are labeled and stored in fireproof cabinets in Southern Oregon University's anthropology department. With the help of Ted Goebel, former assistant professor of anthropology department. With the help of Ted Goebel, former assistant professor of anthropology at SOU, Winthrop established the cooperative arrangement several years ago to store and curate artifacts found on the Medford District where they could be studied by scholars at SOU. In addition to hundreds of stone tools up to 9,000 years old, the storage site holds remnants in the form of rusting cans and broken porcelain left by miners a mere 150 years ago. The artifact archives are part of Winthrop's legacy. She leaves her job at the end of March to take a position with the BLM in Maryland where she will serve as archaeological liaison between the agency and the Army Environmental Center. For some 20 years, Winthrop has worked as an archaeologist in Southern Oregon, including the past eight years for the BLM. "In terms of archaeology, this part of the world has really got it all," Winthrop said. "We have both historic and prehistoric. "Places like Marial (along the Rogue) and Stratton Creek go back 8,000 and 9,000 years that we know of," she said. "And those sites were occupied over time until a couple of hundred years ago." She holds up a small flat piece of slate uncovered at the Stratton Creek site eight years ago. "You can see it has been incised all over the surface," she said of man-made markings covering the stone. "We very rarely get any artwork from prehistoric sites. It came from very far down. My guess is that it is 6,000 to 7,000 years old." At this point, they have no idea what the markings represent. Winthrop picks up some other nondescript stone artifacts that came from the Shady Cove area. "The interesting thing about this site is that it appears to come from a period on the upper Rogue that we don't know a lot about," she said. "About 2,000 to 2,500 years ago there appears to be something of a hiatus in habitation of the area. We find very few sites during that period. We don't know why." The smaller arrowheads are relatively recent prehistoric artifacts, she observed. "The bow and arrow didn't arrive until 1,500 to 2,000 years ago," Winthrop explained. "Before that they used the throwing spear with the bigger, heavier point." More finds are still being unearthed that end up at SOU. Chris Kelly, a 1999 SOU graduate working with the BLM, last week found a Chinese mining site in the Cow Creek drainage in the Glendale area. Kelly, who had taken an archaeology class at SOU, was reared in the Illinois Valley, an area archaeologists consider rich in cultural resources. "One of the biggest challenges we face on the district is the problem with looting," Winthrop said. "But most people now know it's against the law to dig at a cultural site. Digging destroys the arrangement that could tell us so much." Under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, which put more teeth into the Antiquities Act of 1906, it is illegal to gather or dig artifacts on federal land without a permit. "These things can tell us so much about the past," Winthrop said. "This can help us understand who we are and where we came from." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA