The Marymoor Prehistoric Indian Site is the site of an archaeological dig in

Marymoor Park Marymoor Park, located on the north end of Lake Sammamish in Redmond, Washington, is King County's largest, oldest, and most popular park, with more than 3 million annual visitors coming to roam its . Among recreational activities available are ...

, Redmond,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. After

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

bought the property in 1962, the site was one of four sites in the park considered for excavation. The dig began in 1964, and continued for four years. The dig revealed two separate periods of occupation of the site, which is adjacent to the

Sammamish River The Sammamish River (also known as Sammamish Slough) flows through north King County, Washington for about , draining Lake Sammamish into Lake Washington. Along its course, the Sammamish River flows through Redmond, Woodinville, Bothell, and K ...

. The first period was around 4,000

B.C.E. Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

, and is thought to have been a seasonal camp. In this layer, researchers found stone tools, including spear/arrow points. The second period of occupation was around 1,000 BCE, and appears to have been a more permanent camp. The stone tools found in this layer are from a more varied array of stone than the basalt of the older layer. Much of the stone had to have been traded from the Eastern side of the Cascade Mountains, as they do not occur naturally on the Western side. Many of the items were exhibited in the Marymoor Museum, which was at the park until King County evicted it 2002. Other items were sent to the Burke Museum at the University of Washington.

Redmond Town Center site

In 2008, during a routine archaeological survey conducted as part of a

stream restoration Stream restoration or river restoration, also sometimes referred to as river reclamation, is work conducted to improve the environmental health of a river or stream, in support of biodiversity, recreation, flood management and/or landscape developm ...

project, stone artifacts were discovered at Bear Creek, between Marymoor Park and nearby

Redmond Town Center Redmond Town Center is a mixed-use development and shopping center located in downtown Redmond, Washington. Owned and managed by Fairbourne Properties, Redmond Town Center has more than 110 shops, restaurants, lodging, and entertainment venues ...

shopping mall. In 2009–2014, more artifacts were discovered beneath a layer of peat, including stone flakes, scrapers, awls and spear points. An announcement was made in 2015 that they were the oldest stone tools discovered in Western Washington, after the peat was determined by

Carbon-14 dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

to have been deposited 10,000 years ago.

References

Archaeological sites in Washington (state) Native American history of Washington (state) History of King County, Washington National Register of Historic Places in King County, Washington Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Redmond, Washington {{Washington-NRHP-stub