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CORVALLIS - Researchers from Oregon State University who have been excavating an archaeological site on the Oregon coast will discuss how their work contributes to the understanding of how human beings came to the Americas.

The lecture and slide presentation will be presented from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Oct. 6 in Waldo Hall Room 201 at OSU as part of the Oregon Archaeology Celebration, held throughout the state from Sept. 13 through Oct. 12.

Last year the research, funded by Oregon Sea Grant, located the oldest-known site of human activity on the Oregon coast, dating back more than 12,000 calendar years. That is 2,000 years earlier than the previously oldest-known archaeological sites on the Oregon coast.

Additional work this summer at the Indian Sands site in Boardman State Park, about 12 miles north of Brookings, has yielded a trove of artifacts to be studied and analyzed, according to Roberta Hall, an OSU anthropology professor and principal researcher on the project.

Hall will be one of four researchers taking part in the presentation. Also on hand will be Loren Davis, team geoarchaeologist and OSU anthropology instructor, and grad students Sam Willis and Michelle Punke.

The Indian Sands findings lend evidence to the "coastal entry" or "Pacific Rim" hypothesis of a Late Pleistocene presence in coastal Oregon and how some humans may have arrived in the Americas.

The Oregon Archaeology Celebration is in its 10th year of highlighting the state's rich and diverse cultural heritage. Fifty different presentations for audiences of all ages will be presented throughout the state.

Further information about the presentation or about Oregon Archaeology Celebration can be obtained by contacting USFW archaeologist Jorie Clark, via e-mail at Jorie_Clark@fsw.gov.