Hi.  Don't you just LOVE historical archy?  That kind of research, that
kind of detail, and that kind of insight.  Thanks, Tim.

At 06:56 AM 2/15/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Steptoe canyon on the Snake River in Washington has been the site of Roman
discoveries since the 1890s.  There have been a number of coins and a small
but complete vase found by different people over the years.   In the 1970s,
 background research demonstrated that this canyon had been the line of
retreat for the army's ill-fated Steptoe expedition against the Indians in
1855.   One of the officers in that expedition was an Italian.  The record
stated that he had been shot at the top of the canyon and his horse dragged
the body all the way down to the river.  It is not hard to image these
things falling out of a saddle bag.
>
>Things can end up in unusual places by accident.  Without the field notes,
one object can not be significant - no matter what the claims about its
context
>
>Tim Riordan
>
>
Leslie C. "Skip" Stewart-Abernathy
Arkansas Archeological Survey