Archaeological investigations were sponsored by the Bureau of Land Management in 1988 at 35LNC50, a prehistoric shell midden on the north slope of Yaquina Head on the central Oregon coast. This archaeological site is situated along the northern boundary of the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Proposed construction of a fence along this property boundary prompted archaeological investigations to be conducted in order to recover information about prehistoric occupation that might be otherwise lost or disturbed by this project. The results of the 1988 investigations at 35LNC50 were combined with information obtained from previous test excavations at this site and nearby 35LNC49 by Oregon State University to provide a reconstruction of the activities carried out by prehistoric peoples at these two shell middens.
Two cultural components were defined at 35LNC50. The earlier component is represented by cultural materials recovered from below the shell midden. Evidence of this occupation is sparse, but includes vertebrate faunal remains of sea otter and an unidentified pinniped, indicating some hunting of sea mammals. A single radiocarbon date of 1390 BP was obtained from this earlier component. The later component at 35LNC50 is represented by cultural materials recovered from the shell midden deposit. Sea mussels comprise over 90% of the midden (by weight) . Vertebrate faunal remains include a variety of terrestrial and marine mammals, birds, and fish. Six radiocarbon dates ranging from 1160 BP to 550 BP are available from the shell-bearing strata at 35LNC50. No radiocarbon dates are available from 35LNC49, but this site is tentatively assumed to have been occupied during roughly the same timespan on the basis of the single temporally-diagnostic projectile point recovered.
The timespan during which 35LNC49 and 35LNC50 were occupied is well within the period that Penutian-speaking peoples are thought to have inhabited the Oregon coast, and it is likely that these two shell middens were occupied by the ancestors of the Yaquina Indians. Analysis of the cultural remains suggests that the shell middens on the north side of Yaquina Head were occupied by task-specific groups ranging out from villages primarily during the period from late winter to early spring. These small groups were presumably in search of resources to either replenish depleted winter stores or to provide some much-needed variety to the diet of stored foods relied upon during the winter months.