What can be said is that the slide covered the six longhouses in waterlogged sediment that created conditions of remarkable preservation.

The community that survived rebuilt elsewhere and continued.

The oral history of the slide was maintained.

Five centuries later, a winter storm exposed the first signs of what the mud had preserved.

The Makah recognized what was being exposed and initiated an excavation that would last 11 years and recover more than 55,000 artifacts.

The collection remained with the tribe and became the foundation of the Makah Cultural and Research Center.

The knowledge extracted from the excavation deepened the understanding of pre-contact Makah life in ways that no other source could provide.