[OR_Archaeology] Drake's Landfall

[John Pouley]

The Drake Anchorage Research Collaboration (DARC) has been formed as a
non
profit research entity.

The question that frames this project is: Where did Captain Francis
Drake
and Company careen and repair the *Golden Hinde* in the summer of 1579?
The
location of Drake’s anchorage remains a matter of extensive debate
among a
growing number of commentators, historians, scholars, and writers of
popular books but there has so far been no collaborative, scientific,
peer-reviewed examination of the evidence. Our goal is to assess this
evidence within an empirically grounded, multifaceted framework,
drawing on
skills from within the archaeological, historical and anthropological
academic communities.  The answer to this question -- while intriguing
enough in itself - is important to scholars, Native Americans, and
general
audiences alike. This voyage was the “moon shot” of its time and is
called
‘The Famous Voyage.’ It was the second expedition to circumnavigate
the
globe, and the first to return with its leader. If our research
supports
the theory that Drake made landfall at Whale Cove, along the Oregon
Coast,
then important archaeological evidence of Drake’s encampment may
exist.
This would be the oldest English historical archaeological site in the
United States, dating six years prior to Sir Walter Raleigh’s first
attempt
to settle a colony in Virginia. Equally significant, modern Native
American
communities on the Oregon Coast and Willamette Valley would possess a
significant first-hand, detailed account of their ancestors at first
contact.

Despite exhaustive research and archaeological exploration, no
unequivocal
evidence of Drake’s landing has been found at Drake’s Bay or any
other
harbor in California. Artifacts from the Sixteenth Century and unusual
petroglyphs found in Oregon have been heretofore dismissed as
anomalies.
The only artifact thought to be unequivocally from Drake was a brass
plate
found in 1934 at Drake’s Bay, California, purported to be an artifact
from
the voyage claiming the land for Queen Elizabeth. It was declared
authentic, which effectively eclipsed evidence that suggested
Drake’s
landfall was at latitudes further north, where four contemporary
manuscripts put the anchorage. In 1979 the plate was found to be a
hoax,
which opened the question.



DARC's website:

http://www.drakeanchorageresearch.com/index.php?cID=1 






John O. Pouley
Oregon SHPO
Assistant State Archaeologist
725 Summer St NE Suite C
Salem, OR 97301
(503) 986-0675 Office
(503) 480-9164 Cell
(503) 986-0793 Fax
john.pouley at state.or.us
http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/HCD/ARCH/index.shtml