The wooden objects represent a subset of the total, though numerically a very significant and analytically central one.

No previous excavation in the Northwest Coast had produced anything approaching this quantity and diversity of organic material from a single site.

Six Longhouses Under the Mud

The mudslide buried six longhouses.

This number carries more meaning than it might initially suggest.

A longhouse in the Makah tradition was not simply a building.

It was the physical and social center of an extended family unit.

Makah longhouses were large, post-and-beam structures built from massive cedar planks and posts, designed to house multiple related family groups sharing common space while maintaining distinct household areas within the structure.