The Native Village Buried By A Mudslide For 500 Years — And The 55,000 Artifacts Found Preserved Beneath The Mud

It was knowledge.

The Makah contacted Washington State University, beginning a collaboration that would define the excavation.

Richard Daugherty, an archaeologist at Washington State University with experience in Northwest Coast archaeology, became the lead researcher.

The project from the beginning had a distinctive character: it was not a university excavation that the Makah were consulted about.

It was an excavation that the Makah initiated, and that they remained central to throughout its duration.

Makah community members worked on the excavation from its beginning.