Former longtime Tillamook County Museum Director Wayne M. Jensen (left) poses alongside one of the incised rocks in this 1969 photo. Phil Costaggini positioned over an incised 'show rock' in 1979 during 1 of his many winter examination trips.
Historical society to host lecture on Neahkahnie
Mountain artifact surveys on Saturday
Former longtime Tillamook County
Museum Director Wayne M. Jensen poses alongside one of the incised rocks in
this 1969 photo.
Posted Sep 22, 2009
MANZANITA - The Nehalem Valley
Historical Society will host a lecture entitled "Survey of Artifacts
Neahkahnie Mountain" this Saturday. Phil Costaggini, of M.S. Engineering Surveys will speak about the
survey, begun in 1971 by the late Wayne M. Jensen, former director of the
Tillamook County Pioneer Museum. Costaggini is a registered land
surveyor in the State of Oregon, and has practiced since 1987. He holds degrees
from Columbia University (B.A. History) and Oregon State University (M.S.
Engineering Surveys). In completing his master's degree,
Costaggini chose the Neahkahnie Mountain Survey Project, beginning in 1978. His
first task was to meet Wayne Jensen, then the director of the Tillamook County
Pioneer Museum, by way of referral from Costaggini's major professor.
Jensen had explored the ground on
and near Neahkahnie Mountain and it was his contention that artifacts found and
recovered were remains of an ancient survey. Costaggini's work was twofold: to
perform a cadastral survey to a thematically tie the artifacts and then to
write a paper detailing the results and to explore some possible conclusions.
Renewed interest in Francis Drake's
Oregon location surfaced in 2008 when new research compiled chiefly from the
Jensen collection of historical documents, archaeological evidence, maps,
surveys, and Native American life and language were published in Garry Gitzen's
"Francis Drake in Nehalem Bay 1579, Setting the Historical Record Straight".
A commentary in the Oregon Archaeological Society Newsletter in December 2008
said this about the book, "...critics will have a
Herculean task to overcome the lucid arguments of this book." Costaggini's
entire thesis is reprinted as Appendix I in the book and provides verification that a 16th
century land survey was indeed incised on numerous rocks laid atop cairns
dispersed for more than a mile on the face of Neahkahnie Mountain.
The Nehalem Valley Historical
Society recently acquired a large centerpiece incised rock, which was used in
the Francis Drake land survey. Donations are being accepted for the construction
of a showcase with interpretative information to house the rock.
The lecture is slated for Saturday,
Sept. 26 at 3 p.m. at the Pine Grove Community Center, 225 Laneda Ave.,
Manzanita. The event is free and open to the public.