The Blaine Site - South Dakota State Historical Society

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION TO
THE PROJECT
1.1 Introduction
Planned improvements to U.S. Highway 16 between Jewel Cave National
Monument and the South Dakota-Wyoming border necessitated archaeological
work in the area. A program of archaeological investigation was initiated to
prevent damage to significant archaeological sites in the new highway right-ofway.
Through a process of site survey and evaluation, it was determined that
two sites in the right-of-way, 39CU1142 (Jim Pitts site) and 39CU1144 (Blaine
site), merited intensive archaeological investigation prior to their destruction by
the planned road construction. The sites are located in the Red Valley physiographic
zone in the southwestern Black Hills. They lie in extreme western Custer
County, South Dakota, near the Wyoming-South Dakota line (Figure 1.1).
This report details the investigations at the smaller of these sites, 39CU1144,
referred to here as the Blaine site. Initial investigations at the site indicated
the possible presence of archaeological materials dating from the Early Archaic
period (ca. 7500–5000 years before present) through the Late Prehistoric period
(ca. 1500–200 years before present). The potential for stratified cultural deposits
and the possible presence of Early Archaic materials were of particular interest
to archaeologists. Both stratified sites and Early Archaic materials are rare in
the Black Hills (Sundstrom 1989; Cassells 1986). Initial evaluation indicated
that data from the Blaine site could address a series of research questions based
on previous archaeological research in the Black Hills. These research questions
are presented in Chapter 4.
1