But they did preserve evidence of the kinds of material that survive in most archaeological sites: stone tools, shell fragments, bone, and charcoal from fires.

The deeper deposits established that Ozette had been continuously inhabited for a period extending well before the slide that buried the six longhouses.

The specific duration of prior occupation documented in these earlier layers extended the human history of the Cape Alava location back considerably beyond the period of the slide.

The community that experienced the mudslide was not a recently established settlement but the continuation of a long-established occupation of the location.

This extended occupation history is consistent with the Makah oral tradition, which describes Ozette as a village with a long and significant history in the community’s past.