Endowment will fund research on ancient culture

CORVALLIS - When Loren Davis talks about pioneers, he's not thinking of the settlers from the east who crowded the Oregon Trail between 1841 and 1869. The pioneers who interest Davis lived 14,000 years ago.

Davis, who is an assistant professor at Oregon State University, studies early migrations on the North American continent. He recently attracted a $1 million endowment to continue his research.

"We're not going to touch the principal, and it will grow every year," said the 39-year-old. "When I'm done and retired, the next person will be able to step into this and continue the work."

The gift came from Joseph and Ruth Cramer of Denver, who set up similar funds for research at five other universities to study the lives of people who are lost to history except for the tools and artifacts they left behind.

In the basement of Waldo Hall, Davis held a trio of stone tools found in the Salmon River Canyon of western Idaho. They're more than 13,000 years old - early evidence of humans in the Americas.

Conventional theories hold that the first Americans came from Asia and walked from Alaska southward through an ice-free corridor into the Great Plains. Davis seeks evidence of early entry routes that follow the Pacific Coast.

He has previously worked as part of a team in the Paisley Caves in southern Oregon, which is generally recognized as the second-oldest evidence of humans in the Americas, with artifacts from more than 14,000 years ago.

This summer, OSU's funds will be used to help pay for digs in the Salmon River Canyon and off Baja California Sur, which is one of the 31 states of Mexico. Davis will use the gift to buy new lab and field equipment and to fund OSU students' participation in the research.

"We're hoping we can get answers to a lot of questions about who these early people were, and what their lives were like," Davis said. "We are beginning to crack the code, so to speak."

The ancient peoples were semi-nomadic, Davis said. The stone tools and where they were found indicate that the locals were familiar with the landscape. "Someone dug a pit on purpose, and they stored all these. People were caching them in the ground as an insurance policy," Davis said.

The long-ago landscape was very different. Glacial ice existed over much of Canada; huge lakes covered areas that are now deserts. Some of Davis' research this summer into that ancient world will be in the Sea of Cortez, working to find underwater sites.

The Cramers' gift means Davis won't worry as much about securing funds for his studies, and that he can do his research in a careful and thorough manner at multiple sites.

"This is something that intrigues Americans and people beyond the United States. It's fodder for movies and books, and it just captures the imagination," Davis said. "Ninety-nine percent of all human history isn't written down. … This is all part of the big picture of being human on our planet."

Kyle Odegard covers Oregon State University. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.