History of Excavation

Par-Tee site under excavation in 1960s. Fairway of golf course visible in background.

The Par-Tee site derives its name from its location in the rough of a Seaside golf course. Robert Drucker, a local artifact collector, began excavating the site in the mid-1960s with the assistance of the Oregon Archaeological Society. During the early years of Drucker’s excavations, his work came to the attention of George Phebus, a collections assistant at the Smithsonian who spent much of his life on the northern Oregon coast. Phebus realized the archaeological significance of the Par-Tee site, and convinced Drucker and the crew to excavate in a grid system, record provenience information for artifacts, and to take some notes. Phebus and Drucker excavated the site for nearly 10 years, making it one of the most extensively excavated sites on the southern Northwest Coast. Only a short report was published on their work at Par-Tee and the two other large sites Phebus and Drucker excavated. Importantly, Phebus arranged for the Smithsonian to radiocarbon date the site and to curate the artifacts and faunal remains that were recovered.