Dig This! tours

Peek underground at Champoeg State Heritage Area 

Archaeology dig in summer 2011.

Join Oregon State University Professor of Anthropology Dr. David Brauner and  his  students for an archaeological dig.

The park offers guided tours through Aug. 13, beginning at 10 a.m. on:

• Mondays – July  23, 30  & August 6, 13
• Wednesdays – July 25  &  August 1, 8
• Fridays – July  20, 27  & August 3, 10

Tours begin in the Riverside Day use parking area near the Pioneer Mothers Cabin. Although the tour is free, there is a $5 per vehicle day-use parking fee.

This is Dr. Brauner’s fifth excavation of the town site since 2002.  Settlers formed Oregon’s first provisional government on this site in an historic vote on May 2, 1843.

The town site includes the former home of Robert Newell, chief promoter of the town of Champoeg, and speaker of the Provisional Legislature after the 1843 vote.

According to Brauner, the Newell Site has the most intact pre-1855 domestic structure and associated artifacts in the Willamette Valley.

Champoeg State Heritage Area (map, directions and park info)