It included the catastrophic slide that buried six longhouses and that the community remembered as a significant event in their collective past.

It included the relocation and continuation of the community, the transmission of knowledge across the generations between the slide and the twentieth century, and the maintenance of cultural traditions that connected the living community to the pre-contact past.

The storm exposed wooden objects from the bank.

The Makah recognized them for what they were and initiated the excavation that followed.

The excavation recovered more than 55,000 objects over 11 years.