Spokane archaeology dig to get funding boost

Unexpected archaeological discoveries at a construction site at Spokane’s People’s Park led to a $149,000 increase in an excavation contract between the city and Eastern Washington University.

On Monday, the Spokane City Council approved the increase from $212,000 to $361,000.

Stan Gough, director of archaeology and historical services at EWU has said the dig is going to extend knowledge of native habitation by “many thousands of years.”

Spokane’s wastewater department is unearthing a section of People’s Park to install a 95,000-gallon collection tank that will absorb heavy precipitation runoffs and prevent raw sewage from being released into the Spokane River during storms or quick snow melts.

The contract will be paid through sewer utility rates.

Gough and a team of archaeologists from EWU have been digging and sifting through a 25-by-60-foot section of earth in the park near the confluence of the Spokane River and Latah Creek.

Archaeologists have unearthed advanced arrowheads and spear points in the upper portions of the dig and artifacts at least 5,000 years old at deeper layers.

Carbon dating will determine exact ages of some implements.

The river and its historic salmon and steelhead runs long provided sustenance for native inhabitants, who were drawn to the low-lying embankments near the waterways.

In a letter to city officials requesting the contract increase, Gough said, “The discovery of the previously unknown early prehistoric occupation deposits substantially changed the scope of the undertaking.

Previous test excavations had not indicated that these early occupation materials were present and their discovery necessitated archaeological excavation of more than twice as much site sediment as originally planned.”